Decision deferred till APC: Government rejects opposition proposals on NAB

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business ended in a deadlock on Tuesday after the treasury refused to accept 35 suggestions of the opposition for amending the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

The opposition parties boycotted the meeting, saying that no more talks would be held with the government and walked out of the meeting following rejection of their amendments to the NAB laws. The committee chairman and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi did not arrive to chair the meeting after the opposition parties announced their boycott. The members of the government in the committee, ministers and officials, waited for the opposition members for 30 minutes before adjourning the meeting without any proceedings.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said there was no justification to attend the meeting as the government was non-serious. He said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) have identical positions. 

“Our amendments are in accordance with the law and under the directions of the Supreme Court,” he said. He said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) bill would be discussed in the standing committee when the government would table the bill.

Later, Law Minister Farogh Naseem said the deadlock persisted in the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business. He said the opposition wanted NAB not to arrest anyone unless convicted and also wanted their implementation from Nov 16, 1999. “They also wanted framed the case only if anyone committed a crime in the last five years,” he said and adding the opposition demands were against the government's narrative on accountability.

Naseem accused the opposition of putting critical legislation on FATF on the back burner. He said the government would bring the bills relating to FATF in the parliament as the government had to pass three bills before August 6. And if those were not passed, Pakistan would not be able to get itself removed from the FATF grey list. “We asked them not to link the amendments to NAB laws with the FATF bill,” the minister said and added but the opposition wanted the government to first agree to their amendments to NAB and only then they would help pass the bill.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said no elected government could accept the opposition demands of amending the NAB laws as a prior condition for the legislation on the FATF laws. He said the opposition wanted to end the accountability process in the country. “Their 35-point suggestions were not acceptable to the PTI government or any other elected government and we have communicated our rejection to their demands,” he said. The amendments of the opposition would paralyse accountability, said Shahzad Akbar. “The opposition only wanted targeted reforms,” he said adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stance was clear that there would be no deal on accountability.

Earlier, an informal meeting of the government and opposition was held at the speaker’s chambers in the Parliament House in which the government communicated to the opposition that their amendments to the NAB laws were not acceptable. The meeting was attended by former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Rana Sanaullah and Khwaja Asif from the PML-N, former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Senator Sherry Rehman and Syed Naveed Qamar from the PPP while Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak represented the government.

Sources said following the debate, the opposition members walked out of the informal meeting ahead of the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business. Later, the combined opposition in the National Assembly announced to boycott the proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business. The opposition leaders, addressing the media in Lahore, said that now the consensus decision on the issue would be taken in the proposed all parties conference (APC) after Eid.

“We were told today that the government had rejected our bill to amend the accountability laws. When we asked which particular sections were they objecting to, they had no answer and it seemed the government lacked intention to work in the national interest,” said Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while addressing a press conference along with parliamentary leader of the PPP in Senate Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar and Rana Sanaullah Khan on Tuesday.

Abbasi said the government had formed the parliamentary committee and it wanted passage of four bills from the National Assembly and Senate. Noting that among the draft bills were amendments to the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Act, 1948, and the NAB Ordinance 1999, Abbasi explained that the opposition parties told the government they were willing to join the debate if the bills were in the public interest, in line with the Supreme Court's directions and the suggestions Council of Islamic Ideology.

"A committee of the parliament [to hold debate] was formed on these bills, and the bills were taken very seriously. "All the bills were to be passed simultaneously in the National Assembly before tabling them in the Senate," he added. The former premier claimed that the amendment to the ATA was "so frightening that we told [the government] that if it was passed, Pakistan would not remain a democracy but become a horrible dictatorship". After arguments from both sides on the changes, sought by the government, the bill was withdrawn, he said.

With regard to the UNSC Act, the PML-N leader said it was approved after some amendments, suggested by the opposition, were accepted. The amendments to the NAB Ordinance 1999, however, were the "same ordinance" that the government had passed earlier, Abbasi said. It also included a clause on the "extension of service" of the chairperson and vice chairperson of the anti-graft body, but was later withdrawn. "The remaining part of that amendment was the same as the ordinance presented earlier, with an addition that was totally against the Qanun-e-Shahadat [Law of Evidence]. So, we told the government that too was unacceptable," he added. Abbasi said that a smaller committee was then formed to discus the amendments to the NAB Ordinance 1999 "section by section" before finalising a new draft. Sherry Rehman said the PPP shared the PML-N stance. “We demand amendments to laws be brought as per requirements of the FATF,” she said.

Separately, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi rejected the joint draft bill from the opposition. He said changes proposed by the opposition were against country’s interests and did not meet conditions of the Financial Action Task Force. Speaking on floor of the National Assembly, Qureshi said the NAB law would be rendered meaningless if the government accepted the opposition's 35 amendments.

He said the draft of bill was also submitted to the prime minister. “It is not possible for the government to accommodate opposition’s amendments as the PTI wants to root out corruption,” he said.

The opposition parties members also walked out of the House as the foreign minister was near completion of his speech, a few minutes prior to start of meeting of the 26-member parliamentary committee on legislation. Qureshi made it clear that neither the government desired extension in tenures of NAB chairman and deputy prosecutor nor it wanted to do so in near future. He asked the opposition “not to be short-sighted as doors for talks in politics always remain open.”

He told the House that Pakistan would not get concessions from the FATF if the government accepted 35 amendments of the opposition parties. “Once again we call upon the opposition parties to support the government in extracting the country out of FATF grey list,” he said adding the opposition should view NAB law from aspect of rooting out corruption and FATF conditions.

About the amendments, the foreign minister said the opposition wanted that the corruption cases of less than one billion rupees and bank defaulters should not come under the NAB jurisdiction. “What will happen to a person committing corruption of Rs99 crore,” he questioned.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had categorically ruled out compromise on corruption as Pakistan could not move ahead unless the menace was rooted out.

Advocating hard that the FATF wanted early legislation for meeting its conditions, the foreign minister reiterated that the same could not be addressed if money laundering was excluded from the ambit of the NAB law.