ISLAMABAD: Express­ing displeasure over the absence of the principal accounting officer, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday cancelled its meeting convened to discuss audit objections concerning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It is important to take a good look around and see how many people have come to attend this meeting, the air tickets that were purchased and the fuel that was wasted for participants to attend this meeting,” MNA Hina Rabbani Khar said, registering her protest with senior officials representing the ministry.

Defending Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, who is also the ministry’s principal accounting officer, a senior official said she was attending a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Ms Khar and MNA Na­­veed Qamar took strong exception to her absence, arguing that the principal accounting officer should have sought formal dispensation from the Prime Minister’s Office to attend the PAC meeting.

Ms Khar pointed out that Ms Baloch had also missed a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs earlier in the day.

Letter to PM

The two members directed the meeting’s secretary to draft a letter to the prime minister, recommending that principal accounting officers be spared from other engagements to attend PAC meetings.

Senator Saleem Mand­viwalla informed the me­­eting that a similar req­ue­­st had already been forwa­rded to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The audit objections scheduled for discussion included losses to the public exchequer resulting from fraudulent withdrawals, misappropriation of public funds, irregular expenditures and the purchase of vehicles during a ban. Some of the cases involved amounts running into hundreds of thousands of dollars and euros.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2026