Losing essence?: Mahar slams PPP MPAs for failing to live up to Charter of Democracy

Resolution for appointment of opposition leader as PAC chairperson rejected by the House

KARACHI: Opposition leader Shaharyar Mahar accused Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmakers of failing to live up to the Charter of Democracy signed by slain party leader Benazir Bhutto and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2006.

Presiding over the provincial assembly session on Tuesday, speaker Agha Siraj Durrani took up the first resolution on the agenda, tabled by Mahar, to appoint him as the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).



"I want to see the implementation of the Charter of Democracy," Mahar said, pointing out that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had lived up to its commitment by appointing the leader of the opposition as the PAC chairperson. "It is saddening that Benazir's party, which has the majority in this House, is not upholding the document she signed."

The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional legislator waved a copy of the charter as he spoke. "You claim to be the saviours of democracy. Your martyred leader called this document the essence of democracy. So why have you failed to implement it?"

Mahar added that corruption worth billions of rupees had been unearthed in various government departments but no action was being taken. "Around Rs4 billion have been misappropriated in the Benazir Income Support Programme," he claimed. "Please stop defaming the name of your leader."



When the speaker turned to the treasury benches to see if anyone objected to the resolution PPP parliamentary leader and senior minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro spoke up to oppose it. "There are no constitutional rules binding us to appoint the opposition leader to this slot."

Khuhro added that the chairperson of the PAC and its members had been appointed in consultation with the opposition parties. "Why did Mahar not raise the issue when these committees were being formed?" he asked.

Although the opposition and treasury members tried to speak on the matter, the speaker put the resolution in the House for voting. The House rejected it with a majority vote.

School security

In the wake of Tuesday's grenade attack on a school in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Adnan Ahmed raised the issue of poor security measures taken by the police and law enforcement agencies in the area.



Sharing threatening letters sent to school administrations, he said that the police had failed to provide security despite repeated complaints.

Khuhro said that private schools had to make security arrangements on their own, adding that the government was making all efforts to secure public schools and installations.

Uninterrupted power

Setting aside political differences, the lawmakers adopted a resolution demanding the provincial government to approach the Centre to ensure an uninterrupted supply of 650MW of electricity from the national grid to K-Electric.

MQM MPA Syed Khalid Ahmed, who moved the resolution, referred to an agreement between K-Electric and the water and power ministry. "The agreement was to discontinue on January 25 and officials of the federal government have refused to renew it," he said. "If so, Karachi, which generates 70 per cent of the country's revenue, will suffer load-shedding for a duration of 12 hours."

Ghost employees

Khuhro came to the rescue of thousands of ghost employees by opposing an adjournment motion by MQM's Muhammad Hussain, who said that the education secretary had admitted that 100,000 ghost employees were eating up billions of rupees allocated for education in the province every year.

Khuhro termed it an old issue and the speaker dismissed the pleas of the opposition MPAs, calling it an outdated matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2015.