Rare feat: Nisar becomes first PAC chief to present annual reports

Presents 10 reports before the National Assembly, to a round of applause.

ISLAMABAD:

In a country where most government institutions struggle to ensure transparent records, it is a cause for applause when the chief of an organisation is able to present proper annual reports.

National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan won accolades on Tuesday when he became the first-ever chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to present 10 annual reports of the committee before the National Assembly.

“It is a historic moment and I want to felicitate every member of the house,” Khan said, after presenting seven annual reports of the PAC that spanned the two decades from 1990 to 2010.

The committee has helped recover an embezzled amount of Rs115 billion to the national exchequer and has probed cases such as financial corruption in the military-run National Logistics Cell, in which it held three former army generals responsible.

Never before in the history of Pakistan have PAC’s reports been presented in the National Assembly, Khan said. “We have prepared and presented 10 reports in two-and-a-half years,” he said.

Haider Abbas Rizvi, of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, took the lead in appreciating Khan. “We do have differences but we appreciate the historic work done by him,” he said.

Riaz Hussain Pirzada from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, and Fauzia Wahab and Khursheed Shah from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also acknowledged and appreciated the achievement.

Earlier, treasury members opposed a point of order raised by former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that presence of dual nationality holders in the parliament is in violation of article 63 of the constitution.

Qureshi said that the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairperson should take notice of this constitutional violation and move the Election Commission of Pakistan for disqualification of dual nationality holders.

But Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah said that the subject cannot be discussed since no bill pertaining to it was before the house.

The matter was eventually laid to rest without an official response.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2011.