Govt, opposition agree on formula to appoint heads of standing committees

ISLAMABAD: The government and the opposition Thursday reached an understanding on a formula for appointing chairpersons of standing committees.

It was decided that chairmanship of standing committees would be given to all the parliamentary parties in proportion to their numerical strength in the National Assembly. However, the final decision would be taken by the National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq next week, as the opposition sought time for consultations on choice of their committees. The NA speaker chaired a meeting in this regard on Thursday, which was participated by chief whips of all the parliamentary parties.

Those who attended the meeting were Naveed Qamar, Shazia Marri, Malik Amir Dogar, Mujahid Khan, Aijaz Jakhrani, Khalid Hussain Magsi, Gul Asfar Khan, Noor Alam Khan, Zain Hussain Qureshi, Aminul Haq, Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Hafeezuddin and Moin Aamir.

According to sources, it was decided that the chairmanship of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would be given to the opposition, while the parliamentary committee on Kashmir would be given to the treasury benches. The opposition leader would nominate a member from its members to lead the PAC. Also, chairmanship of 13 standing committees would be given to the PMLN, eight each to PPP and PTI-backed independents, two to MQM-Pakistan while one each to Istehkam-e-Pakistan (IPP) and PMLQ. The smaller parliamentary parties would not get the chairpersonship of the standing committees.

However, sources said, the MQMP sought chairmanship of three standing committees instead of two, and decided to contact the PMLN again.

The meeting also decided the rules of game for proceedings of the National Assembly, discussed allotment of days for the motion of thanks on presidential speech, budget session and calendar for the parliamentary year. The meeting decided that the government and opposition would provide names for the business advisory committee. The NA current session would prorogue on Monday, April 29.

It was decided in the meeting that discussion on the motion of thanks would commence in the next session, starting from May 13, 2024 and five days would be given for discussion and duration of each sitting would be five hours, ten minutes would be allotted to members from all parties; however, the parliamentary leaders would be given more than 10 minutes.

On the first two days, one member from the opposition side and one from the government would be allowed to speak on a motion of thanks. From the third day, two members from the government side and one member from the opposition would be allowed to speak.

Sources said 10 minutes would be allotted to members from all parties; however, the parliamentary leaders would be given more than 10 minutes and on the first two days, one member from the opposition side and one from the government would be allowed to speak on a motion of thanks. From the third day, two members from the government side and one from the opposition would be allowed to speak.

Sources said the government and the opposition also reached an understanding for the budget session, which would likely be held from 6 to 28 June 2024. The session would also be held on Saturday, and there would be six-day break for Eidul Azha. There would be no question hour during the budget session, and winding up of general discussion on budget would be held on June 21, 2024, and discussion on the charged expenditure would be held on June 22, 2024, cut motions would be taken up from June 24 to 25, 2024, consideration and passage of finance bill would be on June 26, 2024, and supplementary grants would be taken up on June 27, 2024.