Islamabad:
After months of disputes between the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan-Nawaz Muslim League (PML-N) and the opposition of Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) on the issue of the presidency of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) , Junaid Akbar of PTI, Junaid Akbar on Friday chose the president of the parliamentary guard dog without opposition.
The post had been vacant since the government entered power after the February 2024 elections. The PAC is the Apex parliamentary control agency that supervises the audit of income and expenses by the Government and is considered the committee of the most powerful and important Parliament.
Previously, the PAC understood only members of the National Assembly, but in the recent previous members of the Senate, part of it has also become.
Although there is no government restriction in the rules to give the presidency of the PAC to opposition parties, it has been a parliamentary practice and tradition that the office is delivered to an opposition member to guarantee transparency in financial matters.
The Akbar nomination was proposed by Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, the opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan, Senator Shibli Faraz and other prominent figures.
The members of the Committee, including Mna Riaz Fatyana, Malik Amir Dogar, Wajih Qamar, Sardar Mohammad Yusuf Zaman and others, expressed their full support for the candidacy of Junaid Akbar Khan.
After his choice, Junaid Akbar Khan thanked the committee members for their trust and promised to lead the PAC with full cooperation of all members.
He expressed his commitment to guarantee the committee without problems and reiterated his determination to work along with all the members, who assured him his full support in his new role.
Last month, the president of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, had already given the government the opposition a deadline to nominate candidates to occupy the post of the PAC.
The speaker had warned that if a consensus was not reached, a PAC meeting would be convened, and the president will be elected at the act.
Spell Sadiq remembered both parties that it was a parliamentary tradition that the presidency of PAC outside the opposition, although a final decision in this regard would require an agreement between the government and the opposition.
