ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Sunday urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to return to parliamentary standing committees and resume participation in the legislative process, while criticising the party’s earlier decision to resign from the committees.
Speaking at a press conference, he said the PTI lawmakers had previously played a constructive role during budget sessions, actively examining and scrutinising budget proposals in detail.
He said parliamentary oversight had benefited from their input at the time, particularly during detailed discussions on fiscal proposals.
Dr Chaudhry said the government had taken several recommendations from opposition lawmakers seriously during deliberations on the federal budget, adding that parliamentary processes functioned more effectively when both the treasury and opposition benches contributed meaningfully.
He particularly praised the performance of younger opposition parliamentarians, including Osama Mela and Mubeen Arif, describing their participation in committee proceedings as positive and constructive.
According to him, such engagement had strengthened the budget review process and contributed to more effective legislative scrutiny.
However, the minister expressed concern over PTI’s decision last year to quit standing committees, saying the move had weakened the opposition’s institutional role within Parliament at a critical time.
He argued that the withdrawal had diminished opportunities for structured oversight and engagement in key parliamentary forums.
Chaudhry alleged that the resignations were not driven by ideological differences with the government, but instead stemmed from internal disagreements within PTI over committee chairmanships, particularly the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), then held by Junaid Akbar Khan, amid competing aspirations within the party for the position.
He said attempts to frame the issue as a matter of political principle did not reflect the underlying internal dynamics. “While party leaders tried to project ideological differences in the media, the reality was that these were purely internal party differences,” he said.
The minister further claimed that a faction within PTI had persuaded the PTI founder to approve resignations from the committees, with the objective of removing Junaid Akbar from the PAC chairmanship.
He said the resignations had effectively left opposition lawmakers without representation in key parliamentary standing committees during ongoing budget deliberations and oversight work.
“By boycotting the proceedings of the standing committees, the opposition has disassociated itself from the budget process,” he said.
“This disassociation from the committees is the first step, and it remains to be seen what they do inside Parliament.”
The minister reiterated his appeal to PTI lawmakers to return to committee work, stressing that parliamentary oversight and democratic debate were strengthened when the opposition remained engaged within institutional processes rather than outside them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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