PAC inactive amid leadership dispute

KARACHI:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), considered the most important and powerful committee of the Sindh Assembly, has been completely inactive for the past three months. The committee’s last meeting was held in December last year, and since then not a single meeting has taken place.

According to sources in the Sindh Assembly, the main reason for the PAC’s inactivity are the differences between its Chairman Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Sindh Assembly Speaker Awais Qadir Shah. These differences came to light about three months ago when the Speaker removed the PAC Chairman’s secretary from his position without Khuhro’s consent. Khuhro expressed his displeasure and wrote a letter to the Speaker recommending the reinstatement of his secretary, but the Speaker did not respond positively.

Sources further stated that Speaker Awais Qadir Shah wished to become the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee himself, following the model of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, where the Speaker also serves as the PAC Chairman. To verify whether the Sindh Assembly Speaker can also assume this role, The Express Tribune contacted Sindh Assembly Secretary Ghulam Umar Farooq Buriro, but he declined to comment.

Another assembly official stated that if the provincial assembly rules are amended, the Speaker could hold both positions simultaneously.

It is important to note that Public Accounts Committees in both national and provincial assemblies hold extensive powers. They can summon senior officials from any government ministry or department to question them regarding financial or administrative irregularities and may take action if necessary. These committees review expenditures of government departments and ministries and can order investigations into the misuse of public funds. They can also direct recovery of financial losses incurred by any department.

From August 2024 to December 2025, the Sindh Assembly’s PAC held 105 meetings, reviewing audit reports related to provincial departments, public universities, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), various municipal bodies, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation, Sindh Solid Waste Management, and the Sindh Building Control Authority. During this period of one and a half years, the PAC recovered Rs620 million from government officials and returned the amount to the Sindh government.

Experts say that the inactivity of the Public Accounts Committee leads to a lack of accountability in government institutions and undermines effective use of public resources and financial transparency. According to Akram Baloch, General Secretary of the Sindh Parliamentary Reporters Association, the PAC plays a crucial role in ensuring transparent use of public funds, and therefore its meetings should be held regularly. “Journalists should be allowed to observe PAC proceedings to ensure transparency,” noted Akram Baloch.

According to Qurban Baloch, a former leader of the Parliamentary Reporters Association Islamabad, Public Accounts Committees at both national and provincial levels are a vital part of the parliamentary system and their meetings should be held consistently.

“Unfortunately, the parliamentary system at both federal and provincial levels is weakening day by day. The inactivity of PACs will further weaken the accountability system of government institutions, ultimately harming democratic institutions as a whole,” noted Qurban Baloch.