Pakistan People's Party (PPP) member in Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Nadeem Afzal Chan is likely to head the powerful parliamentary watchdog on public accounts following formal resignation by its former chairman Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Leader of Opposition in National Assembly, who served as chairman PAC for the last three and half years, formally submitted his resignation on Monday against what he believed 'the government wants to make parliamentary panel useless, like other accountability institutions such as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by appointing 'blue-eyed' person also as Auditor General of Pakistan.
According to PAC sources, the ruling PPP has started deliberations to fill the vacant seat of the PAC. They said that currently PPP has two strong candidates including Nadeem Afzal Chan and Qamar Zaman Kaira to replace Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. However, they pointed out that anybody either be appointed to the slot following consultations with allied parties or be elected through vote of the members. According to sources, Chan was the strongest candidate to the PAC slot, as PPP was considering his name on priority. With regard to Kaira, a source said he was also a suitable candidate for the slot but he might not be nominated for the office because of his responsibility as party's central secretary information.