Law and Justice Minister Farooq H Naek informed the National Assembly on Friday that the NAB law would be either repealed or amended to bring it in the purview of high courts. He said this while speaking on a call attention notice moved in the House by three parliamentarians.
The minister told the House that the NAB law was being studied from constitutional and legal aspects and it would be either repealed or amended to make it an ordinary law. However, he made it clear that the President's assent was necessary to repeal any law under the sixth schedule.
This controversial law had been used by the previous governments to victimise political opponents and government employees, he told.
"The new government believes in the rule of law and supremacy of the parliament, as now it is the people's rule not of the dictators," the minister remarked. Naek said that accountability process should be transparent, and no one would be victimised as exercised in the past.
He also recalled victimisation of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and scores of others including former ministers. He asked the House to provide names of those government employees who had been victimised by the NAB on political grounds. "Please provide specific cases and their bio-data, the government will provide justice to the victims," he told the notice movers.
Abid Sher, one of the movers, asked the minister that whether these victimised government employees would be given any relief under the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
If they had any evidence about such victimisation, the government must provide them justice. Later, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, an independent MNA, asked the chair to debate the adjournment motion filed on the manhandling of PML-Q leaders, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Dr Sher Afgan Niazi. He opined that it was a matter of great importance, which should be debated.
Riaz Hussain Pirzada of PML-Q pointed out delay in commencement of assembly session, saying that they were the masses' representatives, and were supposed to serve them, but the assembly's two days' delayed proceedings ran contrary to it, which was wastage of public money. He requested the chair to ensure that no sloganeering would be allowed within the precincts of the Parliament House, as was done by a political group on Thursday at the time of joint opposition's boycott.
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