Shehbaz Sharif to chair first PAC meeting today

ISLAMABAD: The Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif will preside over a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament today (Friday).

NA Speaker Asad Qaiser a day earlier issued a production order of Mr Sharif to enable him to chair the PAC meeting which will start on Dec 28 and will continue till Dec 31.

The parliament body has summoned senior officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The Auditor General of Pakistan and the officials of the power wing of the Ministry of Energy will brief the PAC in the meeting, sources said.

Shehbaz Sharif, president of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), was elected Chairman of the PAC in a meeting of the committee at Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday, December 21. The PAC in a move unanimously elected Shehbaz as its chairman.

In the meeting of the committee as per the earlier understanding between the treasury and the opposition  elected Shehbaz Sharif as the chair of the powerful PAC.

The PAC comprises of 23 members of the lower house and six members of the Senate.

The government and the opposition last week agreed over a formula for formation of the standing committees in a meeting of parliamentary leaders chaired by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar.

The deadlock between the opposition and the government over the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee came to an end after the government conceded the opposition’s demand and agreed over the nomination of Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif as the chairman of the account committee.