LAHORE: The Punjab government is still uncommitted to appointing the opposition leader as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) saying it will follow the Centre in the posting and also hints at forwarding the provincial assembly speaker’s name for the post like in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We are yet awaiting the federal government’s decision on the appointment of the [National Assembly’s] PAC chairman and may follow the precedent,” Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja told a meeting of the Press Gallery Committee on Monday.

He said another proposal under active consideration of the ruling alliance is to make the speaker as head of PAC like in KP but if the opposition doesn’t agree to it, the government has other proposals in its wallet.

Responding to a question about the Charter of Democracy (CoD) that calls for giving the slot to the opposition leader, he criticised the agreement signed by then PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N president Nawaz Sharif back in 2006 and labeled as the most sacred after the Constitution. He alleged that the two parties inked the CoD to cover each other’s [financial] “crimes”.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018