ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday chaired a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentary party and decided to resume the MPA development programme in Punjab.

During the meeting, the premier urged party MNAs to solve the problems being faced by the people of their constituencies.

A PTI leader, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that the prime minister heard the complaints of the parliamentarians and urged them to spend most of their time in their constituencies to resolve people’s problems.

A few MNAs demanded funds for their constituencies so that they could execute development and uplift projects.

PTI decides not to appoint Shahbaz PAC chairman

The prime minister said that following the launch of the Pakistan Citizens Portal — a complaint receiving system introduced by the government — the responsibility of all MNAs had increased to mitigate the suffering of people. He said that complaints received on the system would reflect the performance of each and every MNA in his constituency.

The MNAs’ fund was suspended by the last Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government on the grounds that such funds should be utilised by local governments and not by MNAs.

The PTI-led Punjab government, however, decided to resume MPAs development programme allowing funds for completion of on-going schemes and starting new projects.

The PTI parliamentary party meeting decided not to make Shahbaz Sharif chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly as he was accused in corruption cases.

According to sources, Prime Minister Khan sought opinion from the party MNAs whether Mr Sharif should be made PAC chairman or not. Some of the PTI leaders were of the view that Mr Sharif, who is Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, should be allowed to become PAC chairman, while others suggested otherwise.

The issue of the possible “no confidence” move of the opposition was also discussed and the prime minister was of the view that the opposition would face defeat on all fronts against the government.

The parliamentary party meeting emphasised the need for better relations between the treasury and opposition benches in the National Assembly so that the house could be run effectively.

Party re-organisation

During the meeting, the party also announced significant structural changes in its organisation in Punjab.

According to a notification issued by PTI secretary general Arshad Dad, changes in the set-up have been approved by party chairman and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to the notification, senior leader Ijaz Chaudhry was named as central additional secretary of the party while Muhammad Ghulam Sarwar was appointed western Punjab president, and Umar Dar was assigned as central Punjab president. Engineer Attaullah Shadikhel was appointed president for north Punjab.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2018