Reviewing laws: Govt says NAB laws to be amended with consensus

Opposition urges uniform accountability system

ISLAMABAD: Claiming that multiple accountability bodies create hurdles in ensuring rule of law in the country, the opposition members in a parliamentary panel have recommended a uniform legal accountability system.

This recommendation was made on Tuesday during the second in-camera meeting of a 20-member parliamentary committee held under the chair of Law Minister Zahid Hamid.

The panel – comprising 13 MNAs and seven Senators – was formed by the Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq after various quarters criticised use of voluntary return and plea bargain provisions by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and called for a review of the National Accountability Ordinance.

Interestingly unlike its first meeting, no lawmaker from opposition parties protested against the ordinance issued by President Mamnoon Hussain on January 7. The ordinance slaps a lifetime ban on public office-holders and government servants who enter into plea bargain and voluntary return deals.



After the meeting, Hamid told reporters that the committee would review every accountability law and NAB laws would be amended with consensus. “The committee will also review Khyber-Pakhtunkwa’s (K-P) accountability laws,” he said.

The PTI’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Shah Mehmood Qureshi later told The Express Tribune that the PTI and opposition members had also asked about scope of the committee.

“We have no idea whether we are going to bring amendment to the NAB laws or a new law will be proposed,” he said, adding that the existing law had totally failed. He said the government had agreed with their demand about reviewing all accountability laws that are functioning in the country.

“We have NAB for public office-holders and politicians; the Army Act for accountability in the military and Supreme Judicial Council for judiciary,” he said.

Qureshi said the Jan 7 ordinance was a political gimmickry. “The government knew that the committee would thrash the plea bargain and voluntary return provisions in the NAB ordinance, so they issued the ordinance in haste,” he said.

“The committee will meet on January 24 to discuss all the existing laws and their lacunas as well as the problems arising from them,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2017.