The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was ridiculed on Thursday as the interior secretary preferred to attend a meeting with “proscribed” Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) than PAC while the capital’s chief commissioner arrived late, DG Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) came unprepared and DG Rangers and IG Islamabad as well as Frontier Constabulary remained absent, reports Dawn.
“DG Rangers has gone for a meeting with “proscribed” organization [TLP],” Interior Additional Secretary Muhammad Ayub Chaudhry told PAC.
“The secretary interior has also gone to Lahore to attend the meeting with banned organization,” PAC chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain interjected while making it clear that no official below the rank of 20 could attend PAC.
“They have gone to strengthen the banned organization,” PPP’s Sherry Rehman quipped. “If such a process continues then, God forbid, the state will turn into a banned entity someday,” PML-N’s Khawaja Asif added.
As the committee moved forward with the audit paras of the Ministry of Interior for the year 2019-20 regarding paras pertaining to Pakistan Rangers Sindh, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and police and IG of FC, it emerged that they were all absent from the meeting.
The absence irked PAC and the chairman decided to write letters of displeasure to the heads of the departments. “This is no joke. It’s PAC,” Tanveer thundered, adding “all of you are accountable here, this is parliament.”
“Are you above the law and parliament?” Tanveer asked after taking a pause.
What came next was even shocking for PAC as DG FIA Sanaullah Abbasi, who was tasked to brief PAC on the progress report on all 137 paras and matters referred by the PAC, did not even know the total amount involved in the paras.
To add insult to injury, the revelation came when the DG FIA was being lauded for doing “good work” and giving a “good presentation” to PAC.
“The progress is good,” Senator Talha Mehmood said after Tanveer expressed that FIRs were registered, recoveries were made and investigations were going on in the matters referred by PAC.
PTI’s Munaza Hassan and PPP’s Hina Rabbani Khar, however, started finding lacunas in the presentation to the extent that the PAC, including the chairman, started questioning the veracity of the numbers given in it.
Munaza pointed out that the total number of paras related to Islamabad were 35 leading into 24 inquiries and turning into 11 cases with zero persons involved in them.
Next column states, she said, 30 persons were arrested and over Rs34 million were recovered from them. “How can this happen that number of people involved is zero but 30 people were arrested,” she questioned.
Though the DG FIA was quick to admit the mistake, Hina questioned the veracity of the presentation, saying “this presentation is a very good example of how not to make presentations.”
