Presidency hindering passage of accountability bill: Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on Monday said the Presidency was creating hurdles in the finalisation of the new accountability bill.
“The prime minister wants to take the opposition on board on the new accountability bill and we hope the draft bill will be finalised soon with consensus. There is a 90 percent consensus between the government and opposition,” he told reporters at the Parliament House.
Nisar said the PML-N wanted to bring all public office holders into the accountability net. He criticised the government for increasing POL prices and electricity tariff just 12 hours prior to the sitting of parliament, saying such crucial matters should be debated in parliament first. “By taking such decisions, the government has made the parliament irrelevant,” he observed.
The opposition leader said such decisions by the government were not only anti-people but were also inflicting damage to parliament and democracy. Criticising Interior Minister Rehman Malik, he said, “The interior minister’s seven-day deadline means that corrupt government functionaries are free to indulge in corrupt practices for that time.” He alleged that the rulers were fully caught in the mire of corruption.
He said PML-N had not attended the meeting of the House business advisory committee to protest the way in which the government did legislation in parliament in the last session. To a query on options left with the PML-N in the current situation, Nisar said mid-term polls were still an option. “When we take the name of snap polls, it triggers hue and cry in power corridors, but on the other side, people in streets want to get rid of sitting rulers,” he added.
Asked why his party had not nominated its members for the parliamentary commission for the appointment of judges, he said the PML-N wanted the opposition to nominate its members with mutual consultation. “The PML-Q nominated its members for the commission without consulting us and now we will also nominate our members in a day or two,” he added.
Nisar said the Public Accounts Committee had recovered around Rs 50 billion embezzled from the public sector in its two-year functioning. To another question, Nisar said the PML-N had no plan to impeach President Asif Ali Zardari.