ISLAMABAD, July 27: Khwaja Sohail Mansoor of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was unanimously elected chairperson of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday.

The post had fallen vacant after the death of People’s Party’s Fauzia Wahab.

Interestingly, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance is also headed by the MQM. Senator Nasreen Jalil of the MQM holds the chairpersonship of that committee.

Mr Mansoor, who is said to be the top taxpayer of the country, was not a member of the standing committee. He was not only inducted into the committee but was also made its chairman.

Prior to his election, there were speculations that Dr Nafisa Shah, Shehnaz Wazir Ali or Shazia Marri might be elected as chairperson of the committee.

Ms Marri became the MNA on a reserved seat for women from Sindh, which fell vacant after Ms Wahab’s death.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Mansoor said the PPP and other parties had given him this honour because he was the highest taxpayer of the country.