Deadlock on PAC chief persists

ISLAMABAD: The government-opposition deadlock on the chairmanship of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) still persists, as both sides are sticking to their guns.

Formation of National Assembly standing committees has been on hold for the last two months due to this issue.

The government told the opposition that it would not accept Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif as the PAC chief; however, the opposition has refused to accept anyone other than Shahbaz Sharif as the panel chief.

The opposition has warned that if Shahbaz Sharif was not given the chairmanship as per parliamentary practice then it will not give names for the National Assembly standing committees and even boycott it

Recently, government representatives in a meeting with the opposition plainly refused to accept Shahbaz as the PAC chief.

According to sources, the government conveyed a message recently that if the opposition nominated someone else as the PAC chief then it was ready to consider it.

Sources told The News that another meeting between the government and opposition will be held soon to break the stalemate.