ISLAMABAD: While the National Assembly elected on March 17 chairpersons of nine standing committees for the newly created ministries, the important Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is yet to have a chairman.
Background interviews with lawmakers revealed that almost all main parties present in the assembly, both on opposition and treasury benches, were eying the position and this was causing the delay in filling it.
Leader of Opposition in the House Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan resigned as PAC chairman on Nov 27 because of differences with the prime minister over the appointment of the auditor general.
A source close to the presidency said leaders of the JUI-F and PML-Q had requested President Asif Zardari to let one of their members of the PAC become its chairman. Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the JUI-F proposed the names of Asiya Nasir, who has been one of the regular members of the committee, and his younger brother Attaur Rehman.
Maulana Fazl argued that the JUI-F should head the PAC because it is the second largest opposition party.
From the PML-Q, Riaz Hussain Pirzada is the frontrunner and has in private discussions expressed his desire to chair the committee for the remaining tenure of the assembly. The party’s leaders want their man to be accommodated at the position as a major coalition partner. PML-Q’s Riaz Fatiana, who acts more like an independent lawmaker, had also approached top government functionaries for the position, the source said.
Within the PPP, according to the source, Yasmin Rehman, who presided over several meetings in the absence of the former chairman as his deputy, and the party’s information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, a new member of the committee, are strong contenders.
A PPP official said the president had expressed the desire that a member of the largest opposition party, the PML-N, should head the PAC.
But a PML-N MNA said the party was facing a dilemma in accepting the post after Chaudhry Nisar tendered his resignation, apparently against the wishes of the leadership.
“If the party leaders decide to appoint somebody else in place of Chaudhry Nisar, it will be taken as a snub to him and his stand,” the lawmaker said.
Ayaz Sadiq, a PAC member from the PML-N, said it was highly unlikely that Chaudhry Nisar would return to the post.
When asked if any of the four PAC members belonging to his party were contenders, he said: “I am not interested, but I don’t know about my other colleagues”.
Mr Sadiq said the leader of opposition had been left with no other option but to resign because the government had shown no respect to ‘thousands’ of the PAC directives. Despite regular reminders, the rate of implementation of its directives had been dismally low, he said.
He, however, agreed to a suggestion that with the PAC having for the first time reached a point where it could scrutinise spending by the sitting government, continuation of its meetings would have played an important role in strengthening democracy.
The audit reports for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 have been presented in the house. However, in the absence of a chairman, the committee has not met for over six months.