ISLAMABAD - After a delay of around four months, the National Assembly Tuesday formed 36 standing committees.
The newly-formed committees include Rules and Procedure, House and Library, Government Assurance, Cabinet Secretariat, Climate Change, Commerce and Textiles, Communication, Defence, Defence Production, Energy, Federal Education and Professional Training, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Housing and Works, Human Rights, Industries, Information and Broadcasting, Information Technology, Interior, Inter Provincial Coordination, Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit and Baltistan, Maritime Affairs, Narcotics Control, Food Security and Research, Health, Overseas Pakistanis, Parliamentary Affairs, Planning Development and Reform, Postal Service, Privatisation, Railways, Religious Affairs, Science and Technology, States and Frontier Regions, Statistics, and Standing Committee on Water Resources.
With average 20 members in each, the committees include 339 members from ruling PTI, while the number of PML-N stands at around 180. PPPP has been given 103 seats, while the rest of the associates belong to other parties including independent. As per rules, the committees have to be constituted within 30 days after the election of leader of the house. The deadline expired on September 18.
The chairmanship of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) became a flashpoint between opposition and the treasury as the opposition wanted to have the PAC chairmanship as per the parliamentary traditions and nominated Leader of the Opposition and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif for the post.
On the other hand, the ruling PTI was unwilling to give the PAC chairmanship to the opposition, arguing that it could not allow the opposition parties to review the projects that had been initiated and executed by them during their own governments. The situation improved after Sharif was unanimously elected chairman of the key parliamentary accountability body, in December, last year.
APP adds: According to a press release, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in pursuance of the motion adopted by the National Assembly in its sitting held on January 25 included members of the National Assembly in the standing committees, says a press release issued by the National Assembly Secretariat here Tuesday.
PPP leader Syed Naveed Qamar was the member of Committee on Commerce and Textile. Veteran parliamentarians like Tahir Sadiq, Barjees Tahir, Riaz Hussain Pirzada and Aftab Shaban Mirani were made members of Committee on Defence. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had become the member of Standing Committee on Human Rights while Shehbaz Sharif is the member of committee on Information, Broadcasting and National History and Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan. Balochistan National Party leader Muhammad Akhtar Mengal, Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti of Jamhoori Watan Party, Pervaiz Malik and Maryam Aurangzeb of PML-N, Nafeesa Khattak of PTI and Yousaf Talpur and Abdul Qadir Patel of PPP were among the members of committee on interior.
Junaid Akbar, Sher Akbar Khan and Nawab Sher of PTI , Ahsan Iqbal and Junaid Anwar Chaudhry of PML-N and Murtaza Mahmud of PPPP were named as members of Committee on Planning, Development and Reform.
Ali Nawaz Awan and Rashid Shafique of PTI, Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Shaista Pervaiz of PML-N, Munawar Ali Talpur and Munir Orakzai of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal were members of Committee on Water Resources.