Accountability laws: Naek replaces Babar in parliamentary panel
Meeting adjourned till Monday owing to low attendance
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Farooq H Naek has replaced Senator Farhatullah Babar in the Parliamentary Committee on National Accountability Laws.
Babar resigned from the parliamentary committee after the PPP announced that it was going to back off from a proposal initiated by him, to bring judges and generals under the ambit of the proposed accountability laws.
The 20th parliamentary committee meeting, chaired by Law Minister Zahid Hamid at the Parliament House, remained as inconclusive as the previous ones and lasted for just five minutes.
Opposition rejects accountability law
The meeting was adjourned till November 20 due to a significant number of members being absent and the meeting also did not take up any of the items on agenda.
“Notification of my membership has been issued today. I am scheduled to hold a meeting with PPP’s representative in the committee, Syed Naveed Qamar, for a briefing on the committee’s progress so far and the party’s line of action for the proposed accountability laws,” Naek told The Express Tribune, adding that he would only be able to offer a comment in this regard after he was briefed.
According to a senior PPP parliamentarian, Naek has been given complete independence to deal with the government over the proposed accountability commission bill. He said Naek would soon in writing submit detailed proposals to the parliamentary committee.
Talking to The Express Tribune, PTI representative in the committee Dr Shireen Mazari said her party had never proposed bringing the families of corrupt public office holders under the accountability net.
Mazari clarified that the PTI was of the opinion that ‘any person’, including the public office holders’ families should be brought under the ambit of accountability. “It could be someone famous like Double Shah or any other individual found involved in fraud or a corruption scam,” Mazari said, adding that the government was reluctant to accept the PTI’s proposal.
She also highlighted that as part of the proposed accountability laws, “the governments says that if a case has been under investigation and cannot be decided upon even ten years after its initiation, it can be closed”.
Mazari said that the PTI opposed this clause because “if a party rules for two consecutive terms and uses delay tactics to let the case linger, it will not be wise to close such a case”.
Answering a question, she said that the PTI could not afford to agree with the ruling party over its accountability commission bill due to its flaws. “It will be better for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to take this bill to parliament for a vote,” she observed.
Sindh govt to move accountability bill for second time
Mazari was of the opinion that after the Supreme Court’s judgment in a review petition filed by the Sharifs over the Panamagate case decision, even the PML-N was divided over the accountability of judges. “Some of the PML-N members are now supporting the idea of accountability of judges,” she claimed.
During the 20 meetings of the parliamentary committee, no significant progress had been made in this regard. The PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have already rejected the idea of replacing the National Accountability Bureau with the proposed National Accountability Commission. Instead, both the parties have submitted written proposals aimed at fine-tuning the existing accountability laws.
Law Minister Zahid Hamid recently said that the PML-N wanted a consensus over legislation but due to the inflexible stance of some parties, the committee would not opt for voting on each and every proposal to finalise the bill.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Farooq H Naek has replaced Senator Farhatullah Babar in the Parliamentary Committee on National Accountability Laws.
Babar resigned from the parliamentary committee after the PPP announced that it was going to back off from a proposal initiated by him, to bring judges and generals under the ambit of the proposed accountability laws.
The 20th parliamentary committee meeting, chaired by Law Minister Zahid Hamid at the Parliament House, remained as inconclusive as the previous ones and lasted for just five minutes.
Opposition rejects accountability law
The meeting was adjourned till November 20 due to a significant number of members being absent and the meeting also did not take up any of the items on agenda.
“Notification of my membership has been issued today. I am scheduled to hold a meeting with PPP’s representative in the committee, Syed Naveed Qamar, for a briefing on the committee’s progress so far and the party’s line of action for the proposed accountability laws,” Naek told The Express Tribune, adding that he would only be able to offer a comment in this regard after he was briefed.
According to a senior PPP parliamentarian, Naek has been given complete independence to deal with the government over the proposed accountability commission bill. He said Naek would soon in writing submit detailed proposals to the parliamentary committee.
Talking to The Express Tribune, PTI representative in the committee Dr Shireen Mazari said her party had never proposed bringing the families of corrupt public office holders under the accountability net.
Mazari clarified that the PTI was of the opinion that ‘any person’, including the public office holders’ families should be brought under the ambit of accountability. “It could be someone famous like Double Shah or any other individual found involved in fraud or a corruption scam,” Mazari said, adding that the government was reluctant to accept the PTI’s proposal.
She also highlighted that as part of the proposed accountability laws, “the governments says that if a case has been under investigation and cannot be decided upon even ten years after its initiation, it can be closed”.
Mazari said that the PTI opposed this clause because “if a party rules for two consecutive terms and uses delay tactics to let the case linger, it will not be wise to close such a case”.
Answering a question, she said that the PTI could not afford to agree with the ruling party over its accountability commission bill due to its flaws. “It will be better for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to take this bill to parliament for a vote,” she observed.
Sindh govt to move accountability bill for second time
Mazari was of the opinion that after the Supreme Court’s judgment in a review petition filed by the Sharifs over the Panamagate case decision, even the PML-N was divided over the accountability of judges. “Some of the PML-N members are now supporting the idea of accountability of judges,” she claimed.
During the 20 meetings of the parliamentary committee, no significant progress had been made in this regard. The PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have already rejected the idea of replacing the National Accountability Bureau with the proposed National Accountability Commission. Instead, both the parties have submitted written proposals aimed at fine-tuning the existing accountability laws.
Law Minister Zahid Hamid recently said that the PML-N wanted a consensus over legislation but due to the inflexible stance of some parties, the committee would not opt for voting on each and every proposal to finalise the bill.