NA standing committees: Opposition eyeing key slots

ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly on Monday reached a consensus not to accept the chairmanship of the National Assembly Standing Committees of unimportant ministries.

The opposition also decided to demand the chairmanship of the standing committees of key ministries such as Foreign Affairs, Finance, Interior and others. The government and the opposition had agreed on the formation of the standing committees, special committees and functional committees of the National Assembly and according to the formula, the government will head 23 standing committees and the opposition 19.

According to sources, the opposition has decided not to accept the standing committees of ministries like Statistics Division, Science and Technology, Climate Change but instead of these, the opposition is more interested in the standing committees of key ministries like Foreign Affairs, Interior, Economic Affairs and Finance.

Former opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah decided not to head any standing committee and will not be a part of theThe sources said the PML-N has decided that its former federal ministers and those who have the chairmanship of the standing committees in their tenure would not head any standing committee this time and instead of them new faces would be given preference to head the standing committees.