PTI should sign Charter of Democracy before demanding Sindh PAC chairmanship: CM Shah

Published February 11, 2019
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday said that they would give the chairmanship of the provincial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the opposition if Prime Minister Imran Khan signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD) while addressing the Sindh Assembly. — DawnNewsTV
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday said that they would give the chairmanship of the provincial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the opposition if Prime Minister Imran Khan signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD) while addressing the Sindh Assembly. — DawnNewsTV

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the Sindh government would give the chairmanship of the provincial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the opposition if Prime Minister Imran Khan signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD).

The chief minister, while talking during the Sindh Assembly session on Monday, said he had communicated with Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi but the two failed to come to an agreement regarding the chairmanship of the PAC in Sindh.

"The reason being that he [the leader of the opposition in Sindh] demands things which are undemocratic," the chief minister said.

Shah argued that the chairmanships of committees were the right of assembly members and out of cordiality the provincial government could offer chairmanship of "some" committees to the members of the opposition but "it couldn't change the composition".

The chief miniter, however, made it clear that the PPP-led Sindh government would not give the PAC chairmanship to the PTI as they were not the signatories of the charter of democracy.

While calling on Prime Minister Khan to sign the charter, Shah offered, "Come and publicly sign [it] and say I recognise the charter of democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto, and take the PAC."

He said that the premier should first sign the charter and say that he believes in it, only then the party should ask for these things.

Shah said that PPP and PML-N had signed the charter of democracy in 2008, adding that MQM and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) had not done so, which is why they were not bound to give them the PAC chairmanship.

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