ISLAMABAD - Applauding the role of former Chairman Ch Nisar Ali Khan, the members of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly on Wednesday unanimously elected MNA Nadeem Afzal Chann as Chairman PAC.
After being elected Chairman PAC, Nadeem Afzal Chann thanked the PPP leadership and other parties sitting in the committee who supported him to win the election unanimously and unopposed.
He appreciated the role of former Chairman PAC Ch Nisar Ali Khan, Hamid Yar Hiraj, Riaz Pirzada and others.
He said that the committee under his chair would follow those trends that were set by Nisar Ali Khan during last four years.
‘My role as Chairman PAC, you will not feel that I am a member of ruling PPP and I think that my party leadership chose me for this responsibility as I always play a role of Opposition within my party’, newly elected Chairman PAC added.
Chairman PAC also welcomed Abid Sher Ali in the PAC as he has replaced Ch Nisar Ali Khan as a member of PAC.
Earlier, Minister for Religious Affairs who is also a chief whip of ruling PPP in the Lower House Khursheed Shah said that it had never been a tradition of the Parliament to hand over the Chairmanship of PAC to the Opposition but the incumbent Parliament gave it to the Opposition.
He said that the Chairmanship of PAC was given to Ch Nisar Ali Khan but he resigned. We tried a lot to convince him but he rejected, he said.
‘We wrote him to rejoin the PAC as Chairman or nominate someone else from PML-N but he did not respond. During his tenure, the performance of PAC is a history. He took such decisions that have never been done’, Khursheed Shah said.
Meanwhile, members from other parties including Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Hamid Yar Hiraj, Haidar Abbas Rizvi, Noor ul Haq Qadri, Shehnaz Sheikh also congratulated Nadeem Afzal Chann for winning the election unanimously and also praised Ch Nisar Ali Khan for his services as Chairman PAC.  They also assured their full support to the newly elected Chairman in all decisions being taken for the well-being of the people of Pakistan and the Parliament.
The meeting was attended by Abid Sher Ali, Haidar Abbas Rizvi, Noor ul Haq Qadri, Noor Aalam Khan, Hamid Yar Hiraj, Federal Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira, Khursheed Shah, Asya Nasir, Yasmeen Rehman and Rukhsana Bangash.
The meeting was chaired by Secretary National Assembly Karamat Hussain Niazi.
The committee also offered Fateha for the niece of Khursheed Shah.