NCHR directed to conduct external audit with AGP's consultation

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Wednesday directed National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) to conduct its external audit of administrative financial expenditure with the consultation of Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
The committee which met with MNA Babar Nawaz Khan in the chair asked secretary NCHR Sikandar Ali to conduct its external audit in consultation with the AGP. The committee directed secretary NCHR to contact AGP on immediate basis and also directed the Ministry of Human Rights to fully cooperate with NCHR in this regard.
The committee directed the ministry of human rights to share the findings of internal audit with the committee members. The committee also expressed annoyance over a letter written by chairman NCHAR former Justice Ali Nawaz Chohan to Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, stating that the chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights and its members were continuously harassing him (Chohan) and the commission. When the chairman of standing committee asked six members of NCHR about the letter, they told that chairman NCHR did not consult them regarding the said letter.
Nawaz Khan said that he had personally apologised to chairman NCHR after exchange of harsh words with Chohan during the last meeting and the matter had been resolved. Now the NCHR chairperson wrote the letter to the NA speaker against him which is clearly a breach of the privilege of the committee, he said. The chairman of the NCHR had reportedly been asked to leave the meeting by Babar Nawaz Khan.
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq intervened and acted as a mediator following the incident and Khan later regretted on his behaviour. The members of the commission also said that they are not aware of the appointment of Atta Ullah Mustafa, an employee of UNICEF as an advisor to the chairman NCHR. Dr Begum Jan, a member of the commission said that the committee should take notice of appointment of UNICEF employee as an advisor to chairman NCHR, fearing he may turn to be anther Shakeel Afridi.
Additional Secretary Ministry of Human Rights Humaira Azam said that for such an arrangement, there is a requirement to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the respective ministry. She said that ministry of human rights was not aware of the appointment of the advisor to chairman. The members of the standing committee expressed annoyance over the silence of commission on recent incidents of terrorism in Quetta, including attacks on lawyers and police training school as well as Gadani incident.
Nawaz Khan also questioned on the process adopted for the appointment of advisor as well as foreign tours of NCHR chairman and its members. The secretary NCHR informed the committee that there are a total of 171 sanctioned posts in NCHR but due to absence of service rules and regulations, the commission has so far not made appointments against the vacant posts. He said that the commission has prepared draft service rules and regulation and forwarded it to ministry of law and justice for approval. The secretary NCHR briefed the committee as per given agenda but his briefing could not satisfy the committee. The committee directed secretary NCHR to submit a detailed report within one month on updated list of all recruited/working employees with their basic pay scales, salary/perks and privileges along with details of total number of vehicles provided by the government to NCHR and their usage. MNA Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Phyllis Azeem, Surriya Asghar, Kiran Haider, Asiya Naz Tanoli, Amra Khan, Musarrat Rafique Mahesar, Aliya Kamran Murtaza and senior officials attended the meeting.