National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser Tuesday constituted 36 standing committees of the Lower House comprising MNAs from various political parties as well as independent lawmakers, a private TV channel reported.
According to a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, a 20-member standing committee on defence has been formed which includes Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Tahir Sadiq, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) member Ghous Bux Mahar and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Barjees Tahir. In all, eight members of the committee are from the PTI, five are from the PML-N, three belong to the Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarian (PPPP), while one each represents GDA, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal Pakistan (MMAP).
In the 20-member standing committee on interior, nine members are from the PTI, five are from the PML-N and three belong to the PPPP. These include Nafeesa Khattak, Akhtar Mengal, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Abdul Qadir Patel. The 20-member standing committee on foreign affairs includes 10 members from the PTI, five from the PML-N and two from the PPPP. Prominent names include Fakhar Imam, Makhdoom Zain Qureshi and Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Zahra Fatemi and Maiza Hameed, Hina Rabbani Khar and Mohsin Dawar.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been named in the standing committee for human rights. Asif Zardari, however, has not been named in any committee.
Khwaja Asif will serve as a member of the standing committee for water resources. The chairpersons for committees have not yet been appointed.
Published in Daily Times, February 6th 2019.
