Shahbaz shouldn't fear my entry into PAC, says Rashid.

Byline: Aamir Yasin

ISLAMABAD -- Asking Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif to not be afraid of his appointment as a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Thursday that he would play his legal and constitutional role in the panel while refraining from indulging in any controversy.

The minister also said he would move the Supreme Court, after the decision of the Lahore High Court, to challenge appointment of Mr Sharif as PAC chairman. 'In my opinion, an 'immoral' person cannot be appointed chairman of the PAC that's why I will bring the matter before the Supreme Court,' he said at a news conference at the National Press Club.

Explaining his nomination as PAC member by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Mr Ahmed said that with his membership, a minister would also become a member of the committee and that the prime minister had nominated him to replace Riaz Fatyana in the parliamentary body.

'I have a nomination letter from Imran Khan and now the matter is with the National Assembly speaker,' he said. 'I am the senior most parliamentarian and had been a member of the PAC during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government's tenure and also headed other committees.'

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The minister said that before his nomination, the prime minister consulted the law ministry and after getting its approval, the PM nominated him.

He lashed out at the opposition, saying the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party were not sincere with the democratic system and they were struggling only to conceal their corruption. 'The leaders of both parties wanted NRO to safeguard their corruption, but after getting refusal, they started struggle for relaxation in the name of illness,' he said.

'Both parties' leaders carry a big luggage of corruption and they should say adieu to politics,' said.

In reply to a question, he said how Mr Sharif's production orders could be issued while he was on remand. Mr Ahmed said his production orders were not issued when he was in jail during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto's government. 'Yousuf Raza Gilani's and other leaders' production orders were also not issued in the past, but such facility is allowed for the Sharifs,' he said.

Answering another question about dismissal of journalists from jobs, he appealed to media organisations to have a lenient view on this issue.

Railways affairs

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