Daily Times

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will head nine standing committees of the National Assembly, while Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif will lead the all-important Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament.

The decisions to this effect were made at a meeting of the PML-N parliamentary group chaired by Sharif at the Parliament House, party’s spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said.

The PAC is the apex parliamentary watchdog that oversees the audit of revenue and expenditure by the government.

The NA speaker is yet to constitute standing and functional committees of the House. Political parties get representation and chairmanship of the committees in proportion to their strength in the assembly. According to Aurangzeb, it was decided at the meeting that the PML-N would keep a check on the government’s steps and policies regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, development projects and the local bodies system.

Addressing party legislators, Shehbaz Sharif said the opposition would make efforts to meet the expectations of the people. The PML-N members vowed to protect the local bodies system that had been introduced by their government, particularly in Punjab.

He said that the opposition had a bigger task than the government in the prevailing scenario in the country.

The opposition leader once again criticised what he described as the mini-budget presented by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government.

“The government doesn’t have any economic vision or plan at all. We have rejected the mini-budget and will continue to reject anti-people steps,” added Shehbaz. He said that PML-N government in its tenure had set the standards of ruling very high by serving the people in the Centre and Punjab.

Published in Daily Times, September 26^th 2018.