PTI, rights organisations challenge new accountability law in high court

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and civil rights organisations moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday against the recently passed act that repealed the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The PTI, activist Karamat Ali and other petitioners told the court that the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) provincial government had introduced the bill to stall the National Accountability Bureau’s inquiries and investigations against bureaucrats and politicians. They said the act was “unlawfully passed without any discussion or debate in the assembly.

The petitioners said the governor had expressed his reservations on the bill and returned it to the legislature for reconsideration, but PPP lawmakers brought “the same unconstitutional bill to the House without any amendment” and got it passed.

The applicants told the SHC that the repeal act was premised on the supposition that after the 18th amendment the concurrent list had been abolished and the matter of criminal law, procedure and evidence now solely fell within the ambit of the provincial assembly – a stand which was “entirely fallacious”.

They said that under Article 142(b) of the constitution, both the federal and provincial legislatures had the power to enact laws with respect to criminal law, procedure and evidence. They added that Article 143 clearly stated that in case a provincial act conflicted, was inconsistent with or repugnant to a federal statute, then the latter would prevail even if passed before the former.

The petitioners said the controversial law could not override the provisions of articles 142 and 143 of the constitution, adding that Sindh’s accountability act could not have any bearing on the operation of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

They claimed that the repeal act was tantamount to protecting the PPP leadership and their favourite bureaucrats from the anti-graft watchdog’s investigations and references that came under the repealed ordinance.

They also claimed that the repeal act militated against the right of life of the petitioners as well as the rest of the people of the province, as it was the right of the people to seek prosecution against anyone involved in corruption.

They requested the court to declare the entire repeal act “unconstitutional and ultra vires (beyond legal authority) of the constitution” and “no provision of the accountability act overrides or eclipses the inquiry, investigation and proceedings under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999”.

They also requested that the court restrain the anti-graft watchdog’s authorities from transferring their pending inquiries, investigations and references to any other authority in view of the enactment of the repeal act until the petition was disposed of.

Human rights body asks authorities for information on missing activistsBy our correspondent The Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has requested the authorities to provide them with information on reported cases of enforced disappearances of rights activists across the province.

Signed by SHRC Chairperson Justice (retd) Majida Razvi, the written request has been forwarded to the home and law secretaries as well as the Rangers and police chiefs.

“The commission is extremely concerned about such reports [of rights activists’ enforced disappearances] surfacing in the media and the complaints being received from the families,” reads the letter.

“The commission has been receiving information through various channels that since last one week dozens of human rights activists have disappeared reportedly [at the hands of] the law enforcement agencies. The families of all the disappeared persons are still unaware of the whereabouts of their loved ones.”

The human rights body pointed out that police and other law enforcement agencies’ personnel reportedly stormed into the houses of activists without any arrest warrants, “which clearly depicts the highhandedness of the officials”.

Majida said the SHRC was a statutory body established under the Sindh Protection of Human Rights Act 2011 that empowered the commission to work as a watchdog for the protection of the fundamental human rights across the province.

Pakistan is a signatory to various international treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 that bounds the state to ensure fundamental freedom to the people within the parameters of its legal framework, she added.

“Moreover, Pakistan has been granted the GSP Plus status by the European Union over the condition of implementing its associated treaties regarding fundamental human rights.” The commission clarified that it believed a person accused of misconduct or any illegal act must be produced before the relevant court of law and their whereabouts disclosed to their immediate relatives.

Taking into consideration the law of the land, it is the fundamental right of the accused to have access to fair trial, stated the letter. “This may be taken as a top priority matter.” A number of political activists from various parts of the province have gone missing in recent months, according to rights activists and media reports.

One among them is Punhal Sario, a prominent civil society activist who was convener of the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh. A large number of civil society representatives had recently marched from Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club to demand the immediate release of the allegedly detained activists, including Sario.