Pakistan Tehreek-E-INSF (PTI) Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Junaid Akbar has been elected as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The post has been vacant since the current government came to power after the February 2024 elections. The Public Accounts Committee is considered one of the most powerful parliamentary bodies with the power to summon any individual or record from government departments on financial matters. Under parliamentary standards established after the 2008 general election, the PAC chair is traditionally assigned to the opposition, a practice that continues to this day. During the meeting, they convened in front of the PAC Chairman, Chief Whip of PML-N, who Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, opposition to and Senate Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz, recommended Akbar’s name for the slot. Elections were held after the completion of the committee. PTI whip Aamir Dogar, Riaz Fatyana, Wajiha Qamar, Sardar Yousuf Zaman and others raised their hands to support Junaid Akbar. Earlier, MNA Afzal Marwat was nominated by PTI for the PAC chairmanship but later he was replaced by Sheikh Waqas Akram, the party spokesperson. The nomination for the PAC Bureau slot also caused a rift in the former ruling party when Sher Afzal Marwat refused to cooperate with the party leaders after his nomination was canceled for the slot. In May last year, Marwat claimed that PTI General Secretary Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz did not allow him to meet the founder chairman Imran Khan in accordance with the jail manager. He pointed out that both Ayub and Faraz claimed that the PML-N was not ready to accept him as the PAC chairman. They quoted Khawaja Asif and na speaker as saying this while both denied it. Later PTI issued him a show-cause notice for violating its code and policy. He was also expelled from PTI’s main and political committees on the directives of IMRAN.
