Reacting to the refusal of the PML-N to be flexible on the accountability bill, National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice Chairwoman Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry on Wednesday said the committee would send the bill to the National Assembly after its approval with dissenting notes of the PML-N if no consensus is reached by the next meeting.
“The PML-N was not serious in approving the accountability bill. We do not want the accountability law to be a ‘law of revenge’ misused by agencies in 1999. We give the PML-N another opportunity to reach a consensus by the next meeting, otherwise the committee will send the bill to the National Assembly after its approval along with dissenting notes of the PML-N,” Nasim said.
The PPP and the PML-N had serious differences over the accountability bill. The PML-N has been insisting since the beginning that the National Accountability Commission should be headed by a serving Supreme Court judge, the commission should be authorised to have access to national and international legal assistance for probing into corruption cases, the accountability should take place from 1947 and ‘acts in good faith’ should not remain out of the jurisdiction of the commission.
After the meeting, PML-N MNA Zahid Hamid told reporters that ‘acts in good faith’ was a sweeping term which had been brought in by the treasury members of the committee to give legal cover to corruption cases.
“This term makes the entire bill toothless as it amounts to giving legal cover to all crimes pertaining to corruption and misuse of authority,” Hamid said.
He said his party did not insist that accountability should take place from 1947 and it was PPP’s propaganda against his party. “We have demanded that accountability should take place from a period which should not be perceived as giving immunity to corruption crimes committed in a particular period,” he said, ruling out the possibility of reviewing the PML-N stance regarding the bill.
Earlier, the chairwoman suggested to the meeting that the PML-N’s point of serving Supreme Court Judge could be included in the criterion for heading the accountability commission if the PML-N members agreed to review their stance. “I suggest that a serving judge of the Supreme Court, a retired judge or any lawyer who meets the criterion to be a judge of the Supreme Court or the high courts can head the commission”, she said.
Hamid refusing to change his party’s stance and insisted that only a serving judge of the Supreme Court should head the commission.
PPP MNA Tariq Shabbir said his party could not agree if the PML-N wanted Khwaja Sharif to head the commission. Chaudhry Abdul Gafoor MNA intervened and said that judges should not be made controversial. Nasim immediately said the PML-N was violating the Judicial Policy. She also added that the PML-N should be flexible taking into account the opinion of the majority. She said the bill would be sent to the National Assembly with the PML-N’s dissenting notes if no consensus was reached by the next meeting.
