ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Climate Change panel has unanimously decided to moved privilege motions against the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik, Climate Change State Minister Shezra Mansab Kharal and Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) Muhammad Ali Randhawa over their failure to submit the required record on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and other requisite documents with the NA committee.
The NA Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination met under the chair of Munaza Hassan on Wednesday.
The panel lambasted not only the Climate Change Ministry, but also its minister, state minister and chairman CDA over what it described as the blatant disregard to the panel’s meetings.
“This is just unacceptable. The top officials of the Climate Change Ministry and the CDA are least bothered about the instructions this committee issues in line with its functioning,” said the committee’s chairperson.
“Things cannot go on like that. The government entities need to show proper respect to the Parliament and its committees. The officials should be well aware of the importance of parliamentary oversight on the affairs of the government,” she added.
The committee expressed its dissatisfaction over the performance of the Climate Change Ministry under the leadership of Musadik Malik.
“In view of these circumstances, we have been compelled to unanimously decide moving privilege motions against the Climate Change Ministry, the minister, the state minister and the chairman CDA for showing complete indifference to the committee’s instructions. This kind of glaring negligence must not go unaccounted for,” remarked the committee’s head.
She also slammed the Climate Change Ministry’s failure to furnish the mandated briefing documents, terming it a clear disregard to parliamentary oversight and procedural obligations.
The committee noted that despite the PSDP review being part of the panel’s meeting agenda, no comprehensive brief was submitted by the Climate Change Ministry for scrutiny.
The committee members observed that withholding critical information from the standing committee constituted a serious violation of established rules, and, they said, it undermined the committee’s constitutional mandate to ensure transparency, accountability, and financial prudence in climate-related public expenditure.
The committee then decided to adjourn its meeting “in view of the gravity of the matter and the absence of any substantive material for deliberation,” and to take up this issue in the next meeting as well.
The committee members including Shehla Raza, Dr Shazia Soomro, Tamkeen Niazi, Shahida Rahmani, Khan Muhammad Jamali, Tahira Aurangzeb and Mussarat Mahesar, as well as the senior officials from the Climate Change Ministry and the CDA attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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