Yet not functional

Regarded as eyes, ears, hands and even brain of parliament, the National Assembly committees are still not fully functional, even though the incumbent government has been nearly six months old now. Besides the all-important Public Accounts Committee, or PAC — which serves as the parliamentary watchdog mandated to oversee the audit of revenue and expenditure by the government — there has to be a standing committee of the lower house for each ministry of the government whose job is to examine a parliamentary bill before a seal of approval from the House is sought.

Chairmanship of the PAC remained the bone of a months-long contention between the government and the opposition, and that also delayed the formation of about 38 standing committees of the National Assembly, bringing the business of the House to a near standstill. The government was forced to concede the PAC chairmanship to opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif in December last year ‘in the interest of democracy and parliament’, to realise it only recently that the reins of the parliamentary watchdog must not be wielded by a ‘corrupt’. So the tug of war between the treasury and opposition benches in the lower house is all set to continue.

There have even been hints of a no-confidence motion to topple Shehbaz as PAC chairman, with Khursheed Shah, the former leader of opposition in the National Assembly, warning the government against any such move and threatening to parlayse the National Assembly in such an event. A similar warning has already been issued by senior PML-N leader and MNA, Khwaja Mohammed Asif. Even though Shehbaz has pulled out of three standing committees of the House, it is unlikely to satisfy the government which has intensified its campaign to seek Shehbaz’s removal as PAC chief. The business of legislation, thus, continues to suffer.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2019.

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