Opposition leader demands PAC chairmanship

The leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, wrote a letter to the chief minister on Tuesday, reiterating his stance that the chairman of the yet-to-be constituted Public Accounts Committee of the provincial legislature should belong to the opposition benches keeping in view the spirit of democracy.

The letter also raised the issue of delays in the constitution of standing committees of the house, saying the issue had been pending since October last year. Navqi, who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, reminded the chief minister that the chairmanship of 10 of the yet-to-be constituted standing committees should be given to the opposition. One of these committees is the Committee of the Rules of Procedure & Privilege.

With the new session of the Sindh Assembly set to begin on Wednesday (today), the opposition leader expected that the announcement of the new standing committees of the house would be made before the commencement of the session for improving the efficiency of the assembly to do the business of legislation.

The opposition leader wrote a separate letter to the speaker of the Sindh Assembly, requesting him to constitute the business advisory committee of the house at the earliest as the names for it had already been sent by the opposition benches.

He said the constitution of the committee had been pending for the last five months. On the first day of the new session, no formal proceedings of the house will be conducted to mourn the death of a sitting member of the house, Wajahat Hussain, of the MQM-Pakistan.