'Headless PAC unlikely to meet

ISLAMABAD - Since the resignation of Chairman Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Ch. Nisar has not been accepted yet, the headless parliamentary committee (PAC) meeting is unlikely to be held till next month. The PPP-led government has neither accepted the resignation of Ch. Nisar Ali Khan nor new chief was appointed for this important seat, sources in the National Assembly Secretariat told TheNation here on Sunday. The PPP-led government is also facing the Catch-22 situation as Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Nisar with his announcement to resign from PAC chairmanship, also made it clear that the next member would not be from Pakistan Muslim League (N). The government, currently engaged in plethora of issues, is also facing another difficulty to appoint chairman/chairperson from its own party as remaining within the ambit of Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed by the PPP and the PML-N, a member of opposition would be appointed as chairman PAC. Because of these reasons, the sources said, the government is still indecisive to accept the resignation of Nisar. A couple of weeks before, members from different political forces including Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nadeem Afzal Gondal, Yasmeen Rehman, Noor Alam, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Waseem Akhtar and Riaz Fatiyana had submitted requisition in the National Assembly Secretariat for PAC meeting. Whereas, the resignation of Nisar alter changed the situation and turned the parliamentary committee headless by his resignation. In such a situation, the sources said, the government has also no option even to submit requisition for PAC meeting. The requisition is submitted to the chairman and now to whom should we submit the requisition when there is no chairman of the committee, said a PPP senior legislator, member PAC, on condition of anonymity. As per the rules, under Article 54(3) of the Constitution, the PAC committee is bound to convene a meeting within 14 days after receiving the requisition by his secretariat. It may be mentioned here that in 23 total strength of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) five senior members from opposition are from PML(N) are in the race for next contender. The sources said that the remaining opposition from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and other members from Independent group are not being considered for this slot. It is relevant here that in the next PAC meeting, which yet not scheduled, the audit paras of PPP-led government would be discussed. Sources said that Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)was in planning to give tough time to PPP while discussing the audit paras related to incumbent government.

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