Sindh govt, opposition up in arms over PAC chair

Opposition parties threaten to boycott session if post not handed over to them

KARACHI: With the Sindh Assembly foregoing all other debates to deride India over the past week, an apparent truce had been witnessed between the Opposition and Treasury benches. On Monday, however, the floodgates seemed to have opened once more, with both sides up in arms again.

As the session neared its conclusion, the Opposition lawmakers, with the exception of those affiliated with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), tore copies of the agenda and staged a token walkout. Shouting slogans such as, "No corruption, go corruption," they even announced to boycott all future sessions if their demands were not met.

The situation spiraled out of the control after the Leader of the Opposition, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, demanded to hand over the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) - the provincial legislative watchdog - to the Opposition.

The Sindh government was, however, only willing to accede the chairmanship of 14 standing committees to various opposition parties, but bluntly refused to hand over the PAC.

As the Assembly's agenda came to an end, Naqvi raised a point of order on the issue. "It has been six months since the Assembly was convened, but no committee has been formed," said Naqvi.

"The formation of the business advisory committee, standing committees and Public Accounts Committee seems to be a distant dream. It looks like government is not interested to resolve this issue," he said, adding that democracy would further flourish if the PAC was handed over to the Opposition. "You are violating the charter of democracy (CoD) by not appointing the Opposition leader as chairman of PAC," said Naqvi.



According to him the National Assembly is abiding by the CoD agreement, but the PPP government in Sindh flouts it. "Corruption would be reduced in Sindh if you had appointed the PAC chairman from Opposition parties in the past," he said.

Hypocritical position

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has always stressed that the PAC's chairperson should be appointed from among the opposition. However, this demand of the PPP is limited only to the National Assembly.

Sindh Assembly Speaker, quoting the rules of the Assembly, said, "There is a proper procedure to make committees of this House. Legally, there is no bar to put the PAC under the Opposition leader."

Rule 189 in the Sindh Assembly's rules of procedure provides for the composition of the Public Accounts Committee, according to which the committee should be formed after the general elections, comprising seven members from the Sindh Assembly.

The committee's function is to deal with the accounts of the Sindh Government and the Auditor-General's reports sent to the Assembly. The functions of this committee also include the scrutiny of the government's accounts and Auditor-General's reports. The committee will watch if the funds are used for the same purpose for which they were reserved or not. Meanwhile, according to rule 191, the committee is obliged to present its report before the Assembly every year.

Opposition lashes out

The Speaker's words irked the Opposition members, who stood up from their seats.

Haleem Adil Shaikh, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which is the largest Opposition party in the Sindh Assembly, launched into a fiery tirade, accompanied by a whole lot of fist-waving. "Is this the democracy you speak of?" he questioned. "Stop claiming to be champions of democracy," he thundered.



At this point, the Opposition's mics were switched off and the Speaker repeated the rules of the Assembly. "Don't dictate and shout at me. Quote any rule or law that allows you to be chairman of PAC or other committees. There is a proper procedure. This process can be done through internal election."

Government's offer

Local Government minister Saeed Ghani, who has been negotiating with the Opposition parties over the composition of various committees, disclosed that the government has offered 14 standing committees to the Opposition, who according to Ghani, were still not satisfied. "There has been no concept of giving a share of standing committees to the Opposition. This trend was introduced when the PPP came into power in 2008," he said. "We have the majority in this House. They can't even get one committee if the proper procedure is adopted through elections. It is not their right. We want to accommodate them in the best interest of Sindh, but they are still not happy over it."

Referring to his meetings with the Opposition, he said, "Out of 14 committees of various departments, eight have been given to them as per choice. They are demanding PAC chairman, which is not possible. Sorry for this," he said.

Refusing to budge

For his part, the Opposition leader said, "We will continue this protest and boycott the session if the PAC is not given to the Opposition." Amid the noisy session, the PTI MPAs tore their copies of the agenda, before walking out of the session.

As they left the House, Ghani spoke up again. "We are ready to form the committees, but will not succumb to the Opposition's pressure at any cost."

MMA MPA, Abdul Rashid, condemned the Opposition's behaviour. "It is not a joint opposition. The federal government's representatives have protested and boycotted the session," he said.

PPP MPA Imdad Pitafi, Imtiaz Shaikh and others also criticised the Opposition for tearing copies of the agenda and asked the Speaker to take action against them.  Later, the Speaker adjourned the session till today (Tuesday).

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2019.