Our right to keep PAC chairmanship: minister

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Information, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, on Saturday said making Opposition Leader Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif the Public Accountability Committee (PAC) chairman would be like letting a cat watch over milk.

Talking to journalists here after Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired meetings, he said they have decided in principle already that the PML-N might audit their projects but how Shahbaz could audit the projects carried out by Nawaz Sharif during his government. “Billay ko doodh ki rakhwali pay kesay bitha dya jae?” he said meaning that how the cat could be allowed to watch over milk. The minister said he had presented his point of view before the prime minister and also met the NA Speaker Asad Qaiser apprising him of his opinion about who should be the PAC chairman.

Fawad emphasised his point of view was entirely different that the opposition had no right to have the slot of PAC chairman. However, he said, upon the return of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the party would take a decision thereon. A source informed this correspondent that Asad Qaiser wanted the opposition leader to head the PAC keeping in view the past traditions and had also nodded to them already. He also presented his position before the prime minister in the Friday meeting. Replying to questions, he said PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan should have talked in the Senate in his presence so that he could have responded. “I shall not talk here but in the Senate ‘to his satisfaction’,” he remarked. About the PML-N senator’s demand that he should apologise and that the prime minister would have to remove him as information minister, Fawad said it was up to the prime minister, as he knew things better.

To a question about going against the PTI policy of anti-family politics while awarding tickets for the up-coming by-election, the minister said there are certain constituencies where family politics are in conflict with the constituency politics; therefore, one has to keep in view the local realities in parliamentary democracy. “Where there is no option, decisions were made accordingly but all decisions in this connection are made purely on merit,” he claimed. Asked about any update on a bureaucrat caught stealing cellphone and baggage of a Kuwaiti delegate, Fawad said the incumbent bureaucracy was trained by Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif and when their (PTI government) bureaucracy would be in place, things would be different, God willing. About the by-elections and the PTI chances, Fawad was hopeful that his party candidates would win by an overwhelming majority adding to their majority in the Parliament. He said the government did not believe in meddling in elections and that is why no administrative changes have been made in the constituencies where by-elections are being conducted. He claimed that the by-elections under the PTI government would be transparent.

Fawad pointed out that several of PTI candidates called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and discussed various issues of importance. The prime minister also talked of reorganization of the party and learnt about workers mobilisation. He said an earlier meeting held chaired by the prime minister deliberated on promoting tourism in the country. He said an upcoming cleanliness campaign across the country was also discussed, as already the four chief ministers had been taken on board. He said cleanliness in Karachi was a huge challenge. As the government sticks to its position of not giving the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) chairmanship to the opposition, the latter has decide to explore different options to keep the slot in accordance with the parliamentary tradition. According to sources, the opposition has decided to hold a consultative meeting on the issue in the coming week and adopt a joint stance if the opposition leader was not made the committee chairman as per the parliamentary tradition continuing for the last 10 years. The government argues how the PML-N President and Opposition Leader Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif could audit the accounts of their tenure.

In a panel interview to The News, Jang and Geo News a few days back, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has clearly stated that he wanted to follow the parliamentary precedent under which the opposition leader was the PAC chairman. However, after the serious reservations conveyed to him by the government, Qaiser has deferred the decision till the return of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. “We have many options if the PAC chairmanship is not given to the opposition as per the parliamentary practice.

All the options, including boycott of the PAC meeting, will be placed before the other opposition parties and a consensus decision will be made in this regard, said sources in the PML-N. Meanwhile, the opposition has threatened to quit all the standing committees of the National Assembly if Shahbaz Sharif is not made the PAC chairman.“We are considering leaving all the Lower House of Parliament bodies if the government did not let Shahbaz Sharif become the PAC chairman,” PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal told The News when approached. “The opposition parties share the stand.” He said Speaker Asad Qaiser had been conveyed the opposition’s opinion and sentiments and told that the government should not deviate from the established parliamentary norm.

However, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Media Iftikhar Durrani told The News that it is the firm and definite decision of the government that the PAC chairman will be from the PTI.“However, the name of a party leader is yet to be decided for the slot,” he said. The logic behind this judgment, he said, is that the accountability of the last government of the PML-N through the PAC will be farcical if the chairman of this forum is also from the same party. Durrani said the PTI government will have no objection to appoint Shahbaz Sharif or any other opposition nominee as the PAC chairman when the accounts of the present administration will be scrutinised by the PAC. “However, the matters of the previous government will have to be audited by the new ruling party, the PTI.” When told that the opposition threatened to step down from all the House committees, the special assistant said this course was yet to materialise. “When it will happen, the government will devise its strategy to cope with it.”

Ahsan Iqbal believed that the government is scared of its accountability and its slogan of good governance is hollow.“We have a tried and tested accountability system enforced through the PAC during the last two governments.” The PML-N administration, he said, had the representative of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah as the PAC chairman while the PPP government had the nominee of the then opposition, the PML-N, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, as its chief.

"We will not allow the PTI to reverse this tradition.” Ahsan Iqbal said the PAC is one of the key House committees that played an important role in accountability of the government of the day.