Strengthening democracy: Senate amends rules to make way for joint PAC

ISLAMABAD: In a rare demonstration of unanimity, political groupings adopted on Thursday an amendment in rules and regulations, envisaging representation of the upper house in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

A motion to this effect was moved by Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq. Under the amendment, the Senate shall elect six members — one from each province, the federal capital and Fata — out of which three will be from the treasury and three from the opposition benches for the first-of-its-kind joint PAC of parliament.

In his remarks Haq said: “It was a historic day in the country’s parliamentary history which will not only bring the two houses closer, but also prove instrumental in strengthening the democratic system.”

Speaking on behalf of the government, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that the government would fully support the inclusion of senators in the PAC.



He commented that it was an arduous task, adding despite many efforts made to include senators in the committee, no one was ready to entertain the idea. However, he said he managed to get on board the National Assembly speaker, leader of the opposition and parliamentary leaders to convince them in this regard.

Moreover, he said it was impractical and prone to complications to have two PACs. Nowhere in the world, including Canada and the UK, did a system of separate PACs exist, he pointed out.

The minister also proposed that the Rules of Business of both the houses, should be amended.

Meanwhile, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt-Gen (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch told the Senate that a plan has been devised for the repatriation of Afghan refugees in the country.

The minister said Inter-Ministerial Committee headed by the Safron secretary and comprising relevant government stakeholders had been constituted to devise a plan of action for early repatriation

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2016.