Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government has rejected the opposition’s proposed amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, saying it is against the country’s interest and will hurt Pakistan’s position in the Financial Action Task Force.
“The opposition had proposed 35 amendments to the NAB ordinance which were presented before Prime Minister Imran Khan and after detailed discussion the PTI government decided to reject them,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Tuesday.
He was speaking on the floor of National Assembly in Islamabad after the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business comprising members of both opposition and treasury benches met to reach a consensus on proposed amendments to the law that governs the country’s top graft buster, the National Accountability Bureau.
Reading the opposition proposed amendments, Qureshi said anti-money laundering laws will be excluded from the “list of offences” of NAB if proposal was accepted. “This is against the objective of FATF and will cause damage to the Pakistan’s interest.”
FATF has given the September 2020 deadline to Pakistan to comply with the 27-point action plan and the federal government is in the process of meeting the remaining legal requirements.
Terming the suggestions “shocking”, the foreign minister said the opposition had proposed that cases below Rs1 billion should not be dealt by the country’s top graft buster and the tenure of its chairman should also be reduced.
“As a matter of fact the incumbent chairman NAB was appointed by PML-N and PPP with consensus we [PTI] had no role in it,” he said while dispelling the speculations that the government was mulling to extend tenure of NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal.
In addition to this Qureshi said, the oppositon had also objected the government’s suggestion of 10 years bar on NAB’s convict for holding any public office. “Instead they have [oppoistion] suggested to reduce it to five year which we think that no concessions should be given to those who plundered nation’s wealth.”
Opposition lawmakers staged a walk out from the proceedings of the committee after the government’s lawmakers refused to accept their suggestions.
Addressing a press conference outside the Parliament House, PML-N senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said they won’t negotiate with the government over the NAB laws alleging that the PTI government lacked seriousness over the issue.
Speaking alongside Abbasi, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman also concurred with his views and vowed to not cooperate with the government on the matter.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that there was no justification to attend the committee meeting as the government is not serious in resolving the issue. “The PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party are on the same position, in the wider national interest,” he said.
“The government has rejected the opposition s amendments to the NAB law,” he said, adding that we have asked which amendment is not acceptable. He said our amendments are in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court and the requirements of justice.
Abbasi went on to say that the FATF bill will be discussed in the standing committee when the government tabbed the bill.
