The government has termed as baseless all allegations, levelled by the opposition pertaining to the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2010, and said that it was promulgated within the purview of the Constitution and rules of business.
Responding to the opposition members, Law Minister Dr Zaheeruddin Babar Awan on Tuesday informed the National Assembly that the government did not violate the Constitution while promulgating the Ordinance. "The government did not issue ordinance in the darkness of night," he said.
The Minister said that a summary of the Ordinance was sent to the Prime Minister Secretariat on September 6, 2010. Afterwards, the Prime Minister referred this summary on September 7, 2010 to the President for promulgation of the Ordinance. The President signed the Ordinance on September 8, 2010 and Law Ministry received it on September 9, 2010 and notified it on September 16, 2010 in the gazette, he said.
"In the promulgation, we followed the rules of business and Constitution," he said. He said that a daily newspaper published a report in which it was quoted that the Ordinance was promulgated in darkness of the night and without taking the Prime Minister into confidence, which is baseless and misleading.
He said that according to Constitution, an Ordinance has to be presented in the Parliament within 420 days "while we placed it after 11 days. Now the Ordinance has become the property of the House. It is now up to the Parliament to accept, reject or amend it," he said.
"We do not want accountability of one party or person. We want accountability across the board," he added. Earlier, the combined opposition staged walkout from the National Assembly in protest against the promulgation of the Ordinance.
Zahid Hamid of PML-N said that the government had promulgated the ordinance when both Houses had been called for session. He said that the National Assembly standing committee deliberated the National Accountability Bill for 17 months. He said that the Prime Minister also voiced on the floor of the House that the accountability bill would be presented in the parliament with consensus and to be passed with unanimity.
"It is lack of respect of the committee and supremacy of the Parliament," he added. He said that a sub-section as amendment has been inserted in the ordinance. He said that according to sub-section of the ordinance, federal government has the powers to transfer cases to other Accountability Courts.
Muhammad Asif said that for accountability bill, the Prime Minister had sought proposals from the PML-N, and his party had presented as many as 54 proposals to the standing committee. "Our party also does not want targeted accountability of any party or person. We want accountability of all segments of the society, directly or indirectly involved in ruling the country. The PML-N does not want toothless accountability bill, which should become a joke for the Parliament. We want to give such a law to the nation, which would make the people proud of the House," he said.
Raza Hayat Kheraaj of PML-Q said that National Assembly standing committee on law has been discussing the accountability bill for one and a half year and had held many meetings in this regard. "If the committee approves this bill then it will be sent to Senate standing committee which already is discussing the Ordinance and it would create more complications for the government," he said.
He said that there was no emergency to promulgate the ordinance because the House already was discussing the bill. The Law Minister said that when the President promulgated this Ordinance, both Houses of the Parliament were not in session. He said that the PPP government wants to pass the bill with consensus.
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