Shehbaz’s decision to leave PAC chairmanship not final: Rana Sanaullah

ISLAMABAD: In an apparent turn of events, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Rana Sanaullah said on Monday that party President Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to leave chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee is not final.

In the National Assembly session today, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had criticised Shehbaz Sharif’s alleged decision to nominate Rana Tanveer as his replacement. The foreign minister called it contrary to democratic rules.

Rana Sanaullah, in his address, said that the resignation was not received by Speaker Secretariat and the foreign minister is speaking on the matter on the basis of what he heard.

Sanaullah said that the matter is only a suggestion from the parliamentary party, and will be discussed with the party leadership and other opposition parties. 

Shehbaz Sharif, the former Punjab chief minister and leader of the opposition in National Assembly, will be returning to Pakistan before the budget session for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the parliament on May 24.

PML-N on Thursday had nominated Rana Tanveer to replace Shehbaz Sharif as the PAC chairman.

The PML-N parliamentary party was informed that under the current circumstances, Shehbaz Sharif felt it was not right to continue with the chairmanship. Shehbaz took the decision after consultation with party chairman Nawaz Sharif.

“Shehbaz Sharif nominated Rana Tanveer as PAC chairman and Khawaja Asif as parliamentary leader,” sources informed Geo News, adding that Shehbaz had not wanted to become PAC chairman and had only assumed the post after the insistence of the opposition and parliamentary advisory group.

Last year, Sharif was elected chairman of the parliamentary watchdog unopposed after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government conceded the chairmanship to the PML-N leader.