ISLAMABAD - Though the coalition govt has finally completed its cabinet to run the important affairs of the country, majority of headless parliamentary committees could turn out to be another chaos in the Parliament.
The en-masse resignations of PTI’s MNAs and awarding ministerial portfolios to most of the chairmen of the parliamentary committees have all of sudden created a gap, which cannot be filled in a day. The troublesome situation erupted when over dozen of resigned PTI MNAs were not available to chair the meetings of the parliamentary bodies. This gap further widened manifolds when the incumbent government awarded the ministries to chairmen of the committees, making around a dozen of standing committees/ parliamentary committees without heads.
The coalition government has to face much difficulty to fill the complete composition of these parliamentary bodies, as around one month would be required to evolve consensus on it. The verification of the PTI’s resignation would also be a trouble for the present government to fill this gap, as a large number of the PTI MNAs were chairing the parliamentary committees, background discussions with the parliamentary and constitutional experts revealed. Parliamentary and constitutional experts viewed that the process of verification of PTI MNAs resignations will take more than a month so the matter regarding the formation and composition of parliamentary committees could delay. According to the available figures around 70 per cent of the committees are currently headless including Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Parliamentary Committees on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Special Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir and others. It could also become a big challenge for the present government in the coming month as the standing committees on finance and revenue of the both the houses of parliament are currently headless when the federal budget is not too far. The chairman Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Rana Tanvir has also left the slot after taking oath as education minister. Likewise, The parliamentary committees on CPEC and Kashmir headed by Sher Ali Arbab and Shehryar Afridi of the resigned PTI members, are now headless. Moreover, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was chairman of the NA Committee on Human Rights, has taken oath as the country’s new foreign minister. So, this important committee of parliament has become headless.
Another important gap appeared as PML-N’s MNA Javed Latif has taken oath as minister. He was heading the National Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Likewise, PPP’s Sherry Rehman becoming the minister for climate change, the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs also requires the election of a new chairman.
The incumbent government has to deal this important matter as earlier as possible to avoid further constitutional complexity in the system. Sources said that the coalition government would convene a parliamentary meeting of all the coalition partners soon after Eid-ul-fitr to resolve this important matter in the parliament.
