Spat at Glasgow moot reverberates at PAC

Details of a serious altercation between Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam were discussed at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday. The two apparently had the altercation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow earlier this month.

The PAC examined the audit report of the Ministry of Climate Change for the year 2019-20, in a meeting held at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of parliamentarian Rana Tanveer Hussain. The meeting was also attended by members of the committee Riaz Fatyana, Ali Nawaz Shah, Noor Alam Khan, Raja Riaz Ahmed, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Munaza Hassan, Senator Talha Mahmood and relevant government officials.

PAC member Riaz Fatyana apprised the committee of a quarrel that took place at COP26 in Glasgow between members of the Pakistani delegation, Minister of State Zartaj Gul and Special Assistant Malik Amin Aslam. He told the committee that Zartaj Gul left for Pakistan following this quarrel leaving no officer of note to receive foreign delegations visiting the Pakistani Camp at the conference.

This action rendered the representation from Pakistan substandard, he lamented. Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain said that millions of rupees from the national exchequer have been lost due to the incompetent officers of the Ministry of Climate Change. The PAC directed the Auditor General to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit a report.

Read The Glasgow climate test

At the commencement of the meeting, Chairman Rana Tanveer directed the audit authorities to address the low-cost audit objections of the Ministry of Climate Change at the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) level. Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Sikandar Baloch said that he had recently taken charge at the ministry, adding that he will attend regular DACs. Chairman committee said that there was no problem in dealing with the audit objections which were agreed upon by the DAC consisting of the Ministry and the audit authorities.

During the meeting, the PAC expressed its reservations over the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC). Chairman PAC Rana Tanveer said that the most corrupt practices take place in the ECC which decides to import or export sugar, wheat and other commodities, adding that it’s a shame the government has removed the ECC from being answerable to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.

Rana Tanveer said that due to reservations over the decisions of the ECC, Finance Advisor Shaukat Tareen has been summoned for the next PAC meeting. He added that the subcommittees of PAC had 28,000 audit paras pending which will now reach a 100,000. He also said that Chairman NAB would attend the PAC on December 7.