Deputy Senate chief rejects plea bargain mechanism

PESHAWAR: Rejecting the plea bargain provision of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, Deputy Chairman of the Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri termed it a black law formulated during the tenure of the Musharraf regime.

Commenting on a proposed amendment in the ordinance under which a person found guilty of corruption would be permanently barred from holding any public office, Haideri said: “If the matter comes up (for discussion in) Senate, we will deal cautiously.”

He was talking to media persons at the JUI-F’s head office here on Sunday.

“We completely reject NAB’s plea bargain mechanism. It is a black law leftover from the Musharraf era … It amounts to protecting everyone looting the national exchequer,” the Maulana said.

Haideri refused to comment on the issue of Panama Papers, saying that the matter was sub-judice and his party would accept the apex court’s ruling.

Stressing the need for holding an all parties conference (APC) over the National Action Plan, he said that it was necessary to take all political parties into confidence over the strategy for rooting out terrorism.

Commenting on Fata reforms, he said that JUI-F’s chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had already clarified the party’s stance. “No matter what, our party will always support tribesmen,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2017.