Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Legislators belonging to both treasury and opposition benches on Tuesday agreed on setting up a parliamentary party consisting of members of the National Assembly and the Senate to suggest amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

The parliamentarians said that Pakistan should be a corruption-free society and corruption should be curbed at every level. The House agreed to amend the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2016). There was a need for a comprehensive legislation to make the accountability process more transparent. Opposition legislators said that mostly political people were victimised in the name of accountability, but this practice must stop now. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmaker Sheikh Salahuddin and other members of his party presented the bill to the House.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Law Zahid Hamid said that across-the-board accountability was part of the manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the incumbent government wanted to make the NAB an independent commission so that it could take decisions on merit. Other members representing different parties emphasised that the parliamentary committee should be constituted at the earliest and it should be given a timeframe to complete its task. They said there was a need to strengthen the NAB and free it from political influence. They said that all parties wanted across-the-board accountability and those involved in corrupt practices should be brought to the book. Later, Salahuddin presented the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the House. The speaker said the bill would be referred to the parliamentary committee for consideration. Hamid said that a similar bill had already been received and suggested that the committee consisting of members of both houses of the parliament should thoroughly consider these bills and give suggestions to the government about amendments to the NAB Ordinance. He said he would take both houses into confidence before initiating the process. He said the government wanted to establish an independent national accountability commission.

The speaker asked the law minister to contact parliamentary leaders of all parties in both houses and start consultations with them as soon as possible. The members from opposition and treasury benches laid stress on the need for an independent accountability commission to curb corruption in the country.

PPP leader Imran Zafar Laghari was of the view that political people should not be targeted in the name of accountability. Sahibzada Tariqullah said corruption was a national issue and all parties should work together against it.

Responding to a Calling Attention Notice moved by Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad and others, Parliamentary Secretary for National Food Security Rajab Ali Baloch told the House that 215 centres had been set up across the country for distribution of gunny sacks to wheat growers before the wheat harvest season. According to PASSCO officials, he said, these bags were distributed to 72,355 farmers on merit. He said there was a need to introduce a more transparent mechanism for procurement of wheat from farmers because the existing one was flawed.

Other bills that were tabled in the House on Tuesday were the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016; Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2016; Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2016. These bills were referred to the relevant standing committees.

The law minister told the House that the government and the opposition had agreed to a joint draft of the anti-rape law, which would be presented to the joint sitting of the parliament for approval. Speaking on the resolution, the minister for religious affairs said the entire nation and the Muslim world was sad at the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia earlier last month. The National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning the recent terror attacks in Saudi Arabia. The resolution was moved by Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yusuf.

The House will now meet on Wednesday (today) at 10:30 am.