Government, opposition pay no attention to independent Ehtesab body

ISLAMABAD: With the government and opposition squarely focused on the 12-member parliamentary committee, which held its first meeting here on Wednesday to formulate ToRs for the judicial commission, there is no keenness found on either side to establish an independent accountability commission (Ehtesab body).

Neither is the government taking any step nor are the opposition parties pursuing the objective of establishing an accountability body, which could ensure across the board accountability without any fear and favour.

Despite Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s announcement in this respect in his last speech in the national assembly, his government has not moved an inch on this matter.

In his speech Nawaz had desired setting up an effective and robust accountability body as per the agreement reached between the PML-N and the PPP in the 2006 Charter of Democracy. But he did not announce any line of action to achieve this goal.

The premier, however, chose to announce the constitution of a parliamentary committee for the formation of ToRs, which continues to be the focus of both the government and all the opposition parties.

Like the government, none of the opposition parties including the PPP and the PTI presses for having an independent and powerful accountability commission. It is said that while the government and the opposition could agree on the formulation of a parliamentary committee on ToRs, why don’t they set up another committee for preparing legislation for new accountability commission.

It is alleged that the political parties, particularly the PPP and the PML-N, do not want an independent accountability commission because of their own weaknesses. However, it surprises many that even the PTI is silent on the issue.

The PML-N, which during the last PPP government’s tenure has been vocal against corruption and was demanding the constitution of an independent commission to check the menace, remained unmoved for the last three years of its present term.

The PPP government and the last National Assembly though took the credit of unanimous passage of landmark 18th and 19th amendments, they failed to make a simple legislation for the formation of promised independent accountability commission.

During the PPP government, several meetings held between the government and the opposition (PML-N) but the two did not agree on any consensus draft bill for the commission. A draft “National Accountability Commission Bill” has been lying with the NA Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs since April 2009 because of non-agreement among the stakeholders.

On March 29, 2008, in his first address to the Parliament, the then Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had pledged to disband the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and pass a consensus accountability law in accordance with the Charter of Democracy (CoD) but he failed to honour his commitment.