K-P Ehtesab Commission: ‘Changes empowered accountability body’

Khattak says powers taken from one person and handed over to institution

ISLAMABAD: Days after the head of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Ehtesab Commission resigned over amendments in the accountability act, the chief minister of the province travelled all the way to Islamabad to clarify that the change was not aimed at clipping powers of the accountability body.

“We have not clipped powers of the (Ehtesab) commission,” K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak told a news conference on Saturday. “We have taken power from one person and given it to the commission to strengthen the institution,” he said.

K-P Ehtesab Commission DG Lt-Gen (retd) Mohammad Hamid Khan had told the CM in a letter that the credibility of the accountability process would be questioned if amendments to the K-P Ehtesab Commission Act 2014 went ahead.

Khattak explaining the reasons behind the recently approved amendments in Ehtesab Act said the legislation was carried out to end differences among the director general of the commission and its members.

Prior to the amendment, the DG alone took all decisions of the Ehtesab Commission, including opening inquiries and arresting suspects. After the amendment, decisions related to the accountability process should be taken by the DG, prosecutor general and two commissioners after consultation so that no innocent person faces trouble, he added.

“The purpose was that one person should not behave like a dictator,” Khattak said. He dispelled the impression that there was any amendment under which prior permission from officials was mandatory for the arrest of any accused. Critics start raising objections just for the sake of criticism without going through the facts, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2016.