PESHAWAR: On a collision course with the treasury in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the joint opposition on Wednesday warned that it would not allow the house to function if its demands, including appointment of chairpersons to the standing committees and equitable distribution of development funds, were not addressed.

MPAs from the opposition side demanded of Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani to step down as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee saying since he (Ghani) belongs to the ruling PTI, he can’t play non-partisan role while conducting the audit of funds utilised by the ruling party during its previous tenure.

“We will not allow the assembly to function if the government does not change its conduct towards the opposition and fulfil its commitments,” leader of the opposition Akram Khan Durrani said on a point of order.

Speaker refuses to quit top PAC office until rules amended

The sitting began at 11:50am instead of the scheduled time of 9am apparently due to the meeting of the PTI’s parliamentary party.

The opposition and treasury members traded barbs amid uproar in the house.

Mr Durrani, who belongs to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, said the previous government was facing scandals of corruption in mega projects like Bus Rapid Transit and Billion Tree Tsunami.

He said the PAC under the chairmanship of the speaker would be unable to examine audit paras pertaining to the previous government.

The opposition leader said the PTI had opposed National Assembly opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif heading the PAC claiming that he (Shahbaz) would protect financial irregularities of the last PML-N government in the centre.

He said the cost of BRT project had surged from Rs55 billion to Rs100 billion, while investigations into the Tsunami project were also under way.

Mr Durrani pointed out that the PAC under the chairmanship of Mushtaq Ghani would not be able to hold a fair audit of the accounts of the previous government.

He said the assembly’s rules of business allowed the provincial assembly’s speaker to head the PAC but Mushtaq Ghani should quit that slot voluntarily.

The incumbent assembly speaker was minister for higher education and information during the last PTI tenure.

The opposition leader said a political party had formed government for the second consecutive time, which had never happened.

He said the speaker could not sustain pressure and withdrew the notification of the appointment of ANP MPA Khushdil Khan as chairman of the standing committee on agriculture and replaced him with the PTI member.

Mr Durrani said the speaker had committed contempt of the house by withdrawing the notification.

He also said ministers had been appointed chairmen of the DADC in Shangla and Lakki Marwat districts.

The opposition leader said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had agreed on a formula under which chairmanship of the district advisory development committee would be given to the opposition parties in the districts, where they had won elections, but he later backed out from that commitment.

ANP MPA Sardar Hussain Babak asked the speaker to resign as the PAC chairman on ‘moral grounds’.

He said the government and opposition lawmakers had been ignored in the allocation of development funds for construction of farm-to-market roads and that few MPAs of the ruling party had received major share.

Mr Babak said the Japan International Cooperation Agency was funding that project and he had brought the issue to the notice of Japanese embassy.

He said under the project, over 600 kilometers roads would be constructed, while 95 kilometers roads would be built in the home town of an influential MPA of the PTI.

Mr Babak and Speaker Ghani traded barbs on the issue of removal of Khushdil Khan from the post of the standing committee chairman.

The chair said he had become PAC chairman in line with the rules and would not step down unless rules were amended.

He also defended the removal of Khushdil Khan.

Replying to the opposition’s grievances, senior minister Atif Khan said he was not part of the committee, which struck deal with the opposition for the appointment of committees and allocation of development funds.

He said 90 per cent of the funds had been released for the ongoing schemes and that the government would take the opposition on board on all issues.

PPP MPA Ahmad Kundi said unrest prevailed among the residents of merged tribal districts and that the government seemed reluctant to hold talks with the people protesting for their fundamental rights.

He said unelected people were sitting in the front row during the visit of the chief minister to merged districts, which was strange.

Mr Kundi demanded the constitution of a parliamentary committee to hold talks with the protesters. The demand was endorsed by other opposition MPAs.

Law minister Sultan Mohammad Khan suggested that the house first hold debate on the issue and later form a committee if the need arises.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Youth Affairs Management and Disposal of Immovable Properties Ordinance, 2018, the Code of Civil Procedure (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) (Amendment) Bill, 2019, The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2019, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Powers of Attorney (Amendment) Bill, 2019, were introduced in the house.

The sitting was adjourned until Friday noon.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2019