May 24, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 07, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 23: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) here on Wednesday prematurely ended its meeting in protest against the absence of Secretary Railways, Ejaz Qureshi, who was supposed to present the ministry’s version on alleged irregularities detected by the audit department.

PAC chairman Malik Allah Yar Khan said it was deplorable that the secretary railways constantly avoided PAC meetings despite the fact that he had received directives in this regard well on time.

He said most of the time railways officials did not do their homework that was why they were unable to give proper answers to the questions of the members and resorted to dilly dallying.

Sources told Dawn that some of the PAC members from the opposition parties had decided to raise the issue of the alleged illegal appointments in Pakistan Railways by federal railway minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed and his predecessor, Ghous Bux Mahar, from their respective constituencies.

However, Shaikh Rashid on Monday denied the charges after the chairman and all members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways threatened to resign over alleged illegal appointments in Pakistan Railways.

The standing committee has taken serious notice of appointments of 1,000 people in the department from Rawalpindi, the constituency of Shaikh Rashid, and Sukkar and Shikarpur, the constituency of Mr Mahar, during the last four years. The committee has observed that five other divisions, including Karachi and Lahore, have been neglected.

The sources told Dawn that some of the Public Accounts Committee members had decided to direct the railways’ secretary to present a complete report on the number of people allegedly appointed by Shaikh Rashid and Gaus Bux Mahar.