KARACHI - Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Monday filed nominations for the elections of of the standing committees of the provincial assembly.

The election for 34 standing committees is scheduled to be held Wednesday (tomorrow).

Joint Opposition including Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) have announced boycott of the polls after the government refused to give Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairmanship to the opposition leader.

Talking to The Nation, Secretary Sindh Assembly GM Umar Farooq said that he has received nominations for 22 standing committees of the provincial assembly. “We will be carrying out scrutiny of the nominations and will issue final list of the candidates on Tuesday,” he said.

Adviser to Chief Minister Sindh on Information, Law and Anticorruption Barrister Murtaza Wahab while talking to media at the provincial assembly said that elections of standing committees would be held as per schedule and according to rules and Procedures of the Sindh Assembly.

He said that process of filling nomination papers was under way and added that they are still trying to persuade the opposition parties to resolve this issue amicably, saying the PPP is committed to offer chairmanship of 14 standing committees to the opposition.

He said they are ready to offer PAC chairmanship to opposition provided they sign charter of democracy (COD).Barrister Murtaza Wahab claimed that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah had offered them on the floor of house PAC chairmanship if the sign the CoD.

The adviser said that they had tried their best to engage the opposition parties for creating better environment in Sindh Assembly. He said that PPP would file nomination papers for chairmanship of 20 standing committees and would request the speaker Sindh Assembly to postpone election on remaining 14 standing committees to give opposition parties another chance to revisit their stance and participate in the process. “Despite these measures and offers by the treasury benches, if the opposition continues its protest, it is their right as law allowed them to do so,” he said.

He asserted that if opposition accepts the treasury offers, they would welcome them with open heart and if they are bent upon creating hurdles then government would go by rules and procedures of Sindh Assembly. MMA lawmaker Syed Abdul Rasheed told this scribe that MMA and TLP had jointly submitted nominations for membership of eight standing committees.

“We are also in contact with the government for their support in acquiring membership because as per rules it will be difficult for us to get any memberships without their support,” he informed.

He informed that they had submitted for membership of eight standing committees including that of Local Government, Rural Development, Public Health Engineering, Housing Town Planning; works and services department; Higher, Technical Education and Research, School Education (up to Matriculation) and Special Education; Information and Archives; Labour and Human Resources; Auqaf, Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushr; home and prisons.

The lawmaker said that they are also in touch with opposition parties to become part of parliamentary politics. “We are playing our role of opposition and has nothing to do with PTI and its allies’ politics between federal and provincial governments,” he said.