Imran rejects Shahbaz’s name as PAC chairman

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected the name of opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif as the next chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

On the other hand, all the opposition parties have made it clear that Shahbaz should be made the PAC chief otherwise they would not be part of all the House bodies. They have argued that it was the parliamentary tradition that the ofice of the PAC chairman goes to the opposition’s nominee.

However, the ruling Pakistan Tehrike-insaaf (PTI) is set to put forward the name of former Speaker Syed Fakhar Imam to lead the accountability forum — the PAC.

In a meeting of the PTI’S parliamentary party, chaired by the prime minister, Shahbaz’s name to lead the PAC was rejected on the basis of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases against him. It was decided to propose a non-controversial person with integrity for the job.

The PTI government will take up the issue with the opposition parties separately. However, the opposition pressed for its right to have the chairmanship of the PAC.

As a result of the non-constitution of the House bodies, no legislation can be done because every bill moved in the Lower House of Parliament has to be referred to the concerned committee for consideration and inalisation. The bill is then returned to the House for approval.

However, the ruling coalition is yet to introduce any bill in the National Assembly over the past two months when it came into power.