Decision deferred till APC: Govt downs Opp proposals on NAB

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

The opposition parties announced boycott of the committee meeting, saying that no more talks would be held with the government.

The opposition announced boycott of the parliamentary committee proceedings and walked out of the meeting after rejection of their amendments to the NAB laws. Committee chairman and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi did not arrive the venue to chair the meeting after announcement of the opposition parties about boycott of the talks.

Members of the government in the committee, ministers and officials, waited for the opposition members for 30 minutes and the meeting was adjourned without holding any proceedings.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said there was no justification to attend the meeting as the government attitude was non-serious.

He said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) were on the same page and had same position. “Our amendments are in accordance with the law and with 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 that NAB should not arrest anyone unless convicted and also wanted that the NAB laws be implemented from Nov 16, 1999. “The opposition also wanted that a case be framed only if anyone committed a crime in last five years,” he said, adding that the opposition demands were against the government narrative on accountability.

The law minister accused opposition of putting the national issue of legislation on requirements of the FATF at backburner.

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 grey list. “We asked them not to link the amendments to NAB laws with the bills related to FATF,” the minister said, adding that the opposition wanted that first the government should agree with their amendments and then they would help pass the bill.

In a reply to a question, he said though the opposition did not have any objection on the FATF related bill, they had linked it to amendments to the NAB laws.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said no elected government could accept the opposition demands which they made through their amendments to the NAB laws as a condition for the legislation on the FATF related 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 to them that it was not acceptable,” he said.

Shahzad Akbar said the institution of accountability could be paralysed with the 35-point proposed amendments of the opposition.

He said the opposition was demanding that NAB should not investigate the corruption less than Rs1 billion, wanted clipping NAB chairman’s arrest powers and did not want accountability process prior to Oct 1999.

“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 the matter of 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 after a debate, the opposition members walked out of the informal meeting before the start of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business meeting.

Later on, the combined opposition in the National Assembly announced boycott of the proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business after the government rejected their proposed amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. 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 them on which section they had objections, they had no answer and it seemed that the government lacked good intentions to work on national interest,” said the former premier 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.

Shahid Khaqan 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 and in line with the Supreme Court’s directions and the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) suggestions.

“A committee of the parliament [to hold debate] on these bills was formed, and the bills were taken very seriously.

“All four of the bills were to be simultaneously passed in the National Assembly before tabling those 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 passed, then 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 amendment to the NAB Ordinance 1999, however, was 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 remainder of that amendment was the same as the ordinance presented earlier, but had 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. “Our demand is that amendments to laws be brought as per requirements of the FATF,” she said.

She accused the government of using NAB for political engineering and political victimisation.

Senator Sherry Rehman said the PTI government had been exposed in its two-year tenure.

Separately, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Tuesday 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 (FATF).

Speaking on floor of the National Assembly, Qureshi said the NAB law would become meaningless if the government accepted 35 amendments, proposed by the opposition.

He said the draft of bill containing 35 amendments 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 neither the government desired extension in tenures of NAB chairman and deputy prosecutor nor it wanted to do so in near future.

The minister told the opposition “not to show short-sightedness as doors for talks are not closed in politics.”

He told the House that Pakistan would not be able to get favour 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 getting the country out of grey list of FATF,” 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 case of less than one billion rupees and bank defaulters should not come in jurisdiction of NAB. “What will happen with a person committing corruption of Rs99 crore,” he questioned.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had categorically stated that he would not compromise on issue of corruption and that Pakistan could not move forward unless the menace was rooted out from the country.

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