Ehtesab commission plan mulled

ISLAMABAD: Days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cautioned the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against ‘harassing honest officials’ or else the government will take action, the government is mulling over plans to bring about effective reforms in the accountability system, sources said.

As part of this, parliament is expected to form a committee which would review all proposals and drafts which had been proposed over the past decade to help devise an effective, uncompromising and unbiased accountability system which is free from political victimisation.

This committee will then propose the formation of an empowered and independent three-member accountability commission.

The commission will consist of a chairman, a vice-chairman while it would require consultations with the chief justice to appoint a chairman.

The process of this accountability commission will be overseen by an independent reviewer.

In 2009, former federal law minister Farooq H Naek had briefed then president Asif Ali Zardari on an Ehtisab Commission. Zardari had advised Naek to seek parliament’s approval on the proposal. However, no substantial progress could be made after certain circles opposed the move.

Subsequently, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider had tabled the NAB Ordinance (Amendment) Act Bill 2015. While a Senate standing committee had approved it, it has been pending before the floor of the Senate. The bill proposes limits of NAB’s authority to 58 ministries, divisions and departments which fall under the purview of the federal government. Provinces, though, have been authorised to set up their own accountability commissions in light of the 18th amendment.

However, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahidullah Khan dismissed reports of any proposal to remove NAB chairman, which was a constitutional position with a fixed tenure. Speaking to a local television channel, he said that if a proposal to form an Ehitisab Commission is considered, all parties in parliament will have to approve it.

Cautioning that the proposal was in its initial stages, Khan said that the head of any such commission would be a former chief justice or a retired judge while the commission will be empowered and independent.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2016.