Law and Justice Committee of the National Assembly Friday approved all but two clauses of the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) with a majority vote after two days' deliberations, which were marred by protests. The government was accused of pushing the law hurriedly through the Committee to forestall a detailed discussion and is faced with stiff resistance in and outside the Parliament.
Even the coalition partners of the government are critical of the controversial law and are reluctant to support it. They have always avoided giving a clear answer about their stand in the Parliament with the contention that a decision to this effect would be taken by their Central Executive Committee.
When the same question was put to the Parliamentarians of Awami National Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) after the approval of NRO from the Law Committee, they said the decision on the NRO would be taken by their parties CECs, though all of them had spoken against the law.
Pakistan Muslim League (Q) staged a token walkout at the start of the Law and Justice Committee meeting of the National Assembly on Friday for as they, according to them, had not been provided with the list of NRO beneficiaries while Pakistan Muslim League (N) staged a boycott of the proceedings at the last stage after it participated in the voting on different clauses of the ordinance.
Five out of seven clauses of the NRO were approved with seven to six votes while Muttahida Qaumi Movement's Iqbal Ahmed Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Q's Riaz Fatiyan preferred to abstain.
Later talking to media, Chairperson of the Standing Committee Begum Naseem Akhtar said that the committee passed NRO with majority a vote and it would now be forwarded to the parliament for approval. She further said that clauses one, two, three and six were passed without any amendment whereas the clause seven was adopted after an amendment. She said that with the amendment in clause seven, the corruption cases of Parliamentarians could not be repealed without the approval of the courts.
The standing committee rejected clause four and five of the legislation following strong opposition from the PML-N and PML-Q members of the committee who were of the view that Parliamentarians facing on corruption charges should be tried in courts. Clause-four and five of the NRO had provided that Parliamentarians involved in corruption cases would be answerable to an ethics committee of the Parliament instead of courts.
Talking to Business Recorder, Awami National Party Senator Zahid Khan termed NRO illegal and unconstitutional. A final decision will be taken on NRO after it is brought before the parliament, he said. Senator Khalid Soomro of JUI-F said that a decision in this regard would be taken by the Central Mujlis-e-Shoora, which will be meeting on November, 3 in Islamabad with Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the chair.
According to him, Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Muttahida Qami Movement (MQM) and even the Pakistan Muslim League (N) were beneficiaries of the NRO. Soomro said that his party also wanted the government to make public the names of NRO beneficiaries.
The MQM-member of the Committee Iqbal Ahmed Khan, said his party had questioned the legality and constitutionality of NRO from day one. The law expired after it fulfilled the purpose. Therefore he added, it could be presented in the Parliament. Iqbal Ahmed said that his party would take a decision on NRO after having opinion of the party's legal experts' committee.
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