ISLAMABAD: After a warning from National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday nominated four legislators to chair National Assembly standing committees.

The decision, delayed for nearly nine months since the general elections on Feb 8, now leaves four committees — including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) — without leaders, reportedly due to an internal rift within PTI.

PTI legislator Asad Qaiser suggested that the PAC chairman’s nomination was being delayed because the government was unwilling to implement the Charter of Democracy (CoD). Under that charter, the opposition party, in this case PTI, is entitled to nominate chairpersons of seven standing committees based on its seats in the assembly. Moreover, the PAC chairpersonship is also given to the main opposition party.

On Tuesday, four National Assembly standing committees elected their chairpersons. Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar was unanimously chosen to head the Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony. His name was proposed by Chaudhry Armaghan Subhani and seconded by all committee members.

Four more committees, including PAC, still without chairpersons

Similarly, the Standing Committee on Human Rights unanimously elected Sahib­zada Muhammad Hamid Raza as chairman, with Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar proposing his name, supported by all members.

The Standing Committees on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, and Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development elected Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhry and Junaid Akbar as their respective chairmen. Their nominations were proposed by Muhammad Junaid Anwar Choudhry and received unanimous support from committee members.

Elections were overseen by Adviser (Legislation) Muhammad Mushtaq, Additional Secretary (Committees) Syed Jawad Murtaza Naqvi, and Joint Secretary (Committees) Syed Haseen Raza Zaidi.

The delay in PTI’s nominations left the committees leaderless, an issue highlighted on Nov 1 when Asad Qaiser criticised federal ministers for frequently skipping parliamentary sessions, especially question hour.

However, Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Agha Rafiullah accused the PTI of point-scoring over efforts to empower parliament, urging the opposition to submit committee nominations promptly.

Later, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq warned that he would summon meetings of seven standing committees to elect their chairpersons if PTI failed to provide nominations by the following week.

PTI Chief Whip Aamer Dogar assured the speaker that outstanding nominations would be completed by the following week. Speaker Sadiq agreed to wait but stressed that he would proceed with the meetings in case of further delays.

Currently, the standing committees on cabinet secretariat, housing and works, and states and Frontier regions remain without a chairperson.

PTI has also yet to nominate a PAC chair, with internal discussions first suggesting Omar Ayub, then Advocate Sher Afzal Marwat, and finally Sheikh Waqas Akram were being considered by the party for the slot. However, no final nomination has been made.

Mr Qaiser told Dawn that Chief Whip Aamir Dogar was considering the nominations for committee heads and that he must be working on them.

“However, the name of the PAC chair is being delayed because the government is unwilling to implement the Charter of Democracy. When we were in power, we allowed Shehbaz Sharif to become PAC chairman even though we were not a signatory to the CoD,” he said.

He insisted that the current government was unwilling to implement the charter, which specifies that the opposition should appoint the PAC chair. “We met with Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to nominate Sheikh Waqas Akram as PAC chairman, but he (Mr Sadiq) has been demanding a panel of three legislators. It is not acceptable to us,” Mr Qaiser said.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024