PA opposition leader demands right to name PAC chief

Sindh Assembly opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has demanded that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) should provide the PA opposition the opportunity to nominate the chairman of the House’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is yet to be constituted.

Addressing a news conference at the Sindh Assembly building on Monday, the opposition leader said the PPP is under an obligation to empower the PA opposition to nominate the PAC chief in accordance with the Charter of Democracy (to which the ruling party is a signatory) and democratic traditions.

He said the PPP has been ruling in the province for almost 11 years, so it is quite unwise for a PAC chairman nominated by the party to oversee the audit of the accounts of the provincial administration.

He claimed that the PPP’s provincial government is one of the most corrupt administrations. “The one who is stealing cannot be given the chance to decide his own case,” remarked the opposition leader.

Naqvi said the ruling PPP is under a double obligation in this regard because the party has been supporting the bid of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to win the chairmanship of the PAC of the National Assembly.

He claimed that the PPP has been delaying the forming of new standing committees of the provincial legislature after the auditor general’s report pointed out irregularities in the accounts of the Sindh government.

He said the Opposition in the provincial assembly had demanded the chairmanship of 14 standing committees of the House, but the ruling PPP had agreed to give the chairmanship of eight to 10 bodies.

He added that the forming of new standing committees of the House have been delayed since October. He lamented that the house advisory committee of the PA is yet to be constituted despite the fact that the opposition in the House has sent its nominations for the purpose.

He warned the government that the opposition will lodge a vociferous protest in the House and make it quite difficult for the treasury benches to run the session smoothly if the forming of the standing committees is delayed further.