Sindh cabinet likely to finalise draft of NAO repeal bill on Friday

Karachi: A meeting of the Sindh cabinet is likely to be convened on Friday to finalise the draft of the new anti-corruption law, following which the updated bill would be presented before the provincial legislature next week.

These decisions were taken during a second meeting of the committee constituted by the cabinet to discuss the draft of the bill passed by the Sindh Assembly on July 3 to repeal the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.

The provincial legislature is likely to meet early next week, primarily to consider Governor Mohammad Zubair’s objections to and observations on the bill because he had returned it without his mandatory assent.

After the review committee’s meeting on Tuesday, Law Minister Ziaul Hassan said the Sindh government had proposed news laws to strengthen the courts, instead of empowering any single authority in the province.

Hassan said that under the new bill, the chief of the proposed provincial anti-corruption watchdog would be appointed by a committee of the Sindh Assembly, with representation of both the treasury and the opposition benches.

He said anti-corruption laws were being improved for effective action against corrupt people, adding that the proposed law would hold every corrupt person accountable irrespective of their authority or status in society.

The minister said the new law would not be used to punish innocent people. “For the purpose, various law experts in the province were invited to propose drafts of their own to adopt a new provincial-level anti-corruption bill.”

Recommendations were also invited from the information minister, the advocate general and officials of the government departments of law, anti-corruption establishment (ACE) and services, he added. “They were also asked to share their ideas to improve the draft.”

Responding to a question, he said cases pending against former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain were a federal issue, while the new law would work at the provincial level to bring everyone into the net of accountability without any exception.

To another query, he said Nawaz Sharif had not resigned as prime minister because he loved his position of power. “Had I been in his place, I would have resigned much earlier.”  

‘No controversies’

Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that it was the desire of the Sindh government to adopt the most non-controversial law for ensuring accountability across the province.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been going through the process of accountability for the past 16 years and nothing has been proved against the party as yet. Those who had lodged cases against our party leaders later offered apologies.”

Shah said the rulers in Islamabad had earlier demanded constituting a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe their assets, but the same rulers later dubbed the JIT “controversial, biased and mala fide”.

He said that there was no harm in electing a new PM to replace the incumbent premier through an internal process, as the previous PPP-led federal government had done.

He recalled that Sharif had once wore a black coat to pursue a case in the Supreme Court against the then PM Yousuf Raza Gilani. “Now we can sympathise for Sharif and his family.”  

New ACE chairman

The Sindh government has posted a grade-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, Alamuddin Bullo as the new chairman of the Enquiries & ACE department.

The previous chairman, Ghulam Qadir Thebo, was posted as the new Karachi police chief a day earlier. Bullo was previously the chairman of the Chief Minister’s Inspection, Enquires & Implementation Team.