Public Accounts Committee cancels meeting over foreign secretary’s absence
ISLAMABAD: Expressing displeasure over the absence of the principal accounting officer, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday cancelled its meeting convened to discuss audit objections concerning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It is important to take a good look around and see how many people have come to attend this meeting, the air tickets that were purchased and the fuel that was…
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Islamabad recently cancelled a meeting intended to address audit objections regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This decision came after the committee expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of the principal accounting officer, Amna Baloch, who is also the ministry's primary accounting officer.
PAC member Hina Rabbani Khar criticized the decision, questioning the wastage of air tickets and fuel resources. She demanded formal permission from the Prime Minister's Office for Ms Baloch to attend the meeting. Another member, Naveed Qamar, argued that such permissions should not be necessary. The committee was scheduled to discuss allegations of financial misconduct including fraudulent withdrawals, misappropriation of public funds, and irregular expenditures, some involving significant sums of money.
A letter recommending that principal accounting officers should be exempt from other commitments to attend PAC meetings has already been sent to the Prime Minister's Office.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn - Pakistan's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
