36 standing committees of lower house constituted

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser on Tuesday constituted 36 standing committees of the lower house. According to the details, the 36 NA standing committees were formed comprising MNAs from various parties as well as independent lawmakers. However, the committees were formed in pursuance of the Motion adopted by the NA in its sitting held on 25th of the last month. Both treasury and opposition benches in the lower house have been given representation in these committees. According to a notification issued by the National Secretariat, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been named in the Standing Committee for Human Rights. His father Asif Ali Zardari, however, has not been named in any committee. PML-N stalwart Khwaja Muhammad Asif will serve as a member in the Standing Committee for Water Resources but former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was unable to make any list. A 20-member Standing Committee on Defence has been formed, which includes Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Tahir Sadiq, Grand Democratic Alliance's (GDA) Ghous Bux Mahar and PML-N’s Muhammad Barjees Tahir. In all, eight members of the committee are from the PTI, five are from the PML-N, three belong to the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Parliamentarians, while one each represents the 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 PPP. These include PTI’s Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, Balochistan National Party's (BNP) Muhammad Akhtar Mengal, PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb, and PPP’s Abdul Qadir Patel. The 20-member Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, includes 10 members from the PTI, five from the PML-N, and two from the PPPP. Prominent names include PTI’s Syed Fakhar Imam, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi and Maleeka Ali Bokhari, PML-N's Zahra Wadood Fatemi and Maiza Hameed, PPPP's Hina Rabbani Khar, and independent lawmaker Mohsin Dawar. The chairpersons for each committee have not yet been appointed. They will be elected from among the members at the first meeting called by the committees.