Former railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq on Wednesday said the 18th constitutional Amendment, is a man-made law and it could be revisited in the parliament.
He said this after appearing before an accountability court proceeding with a reference against him and his brother Salman Rafiq.
Earlier, the court summoned former MPA Qaiser Amin Butt, an approver in the case, and witnesses on June 02. A prosecutor told the court that Butt could not appear due to health complications. The NAB accused the Khwaja brothers of wrongfully gaining Rs 18.2 million approximately from M/s Paragon City (pvt) Limited in their bank accounts. It said the Khwaja brothers through their "benamidars" and with the abetment of Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia established an illegal housing project. It said the suspects along with other accomplices cheated public at large and obtained illegal financial benefits from the funds of the illegal society.
Khawaja Saad while talking to media persons said the 18th amendment had been introduced after a lengthy process of deliberations and consultation among all political parties. He said any party having reservations over any component of the amendment should bring the matter to the assembly for an open discussion.
However, he stated that there should be no compromise on autonomy of the provinces given to them under the amendment.
Khawaja Saad, maintained that no one from the government side had contacted his party on the issue of the 18th amendment.
He also claimed that the proposed amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 had nothing to do with any amendment in the 18th amendment. He said the NAB law was a "black law" and it could not run concurrently with the economy and state affairs.
He said the changing in the NAB ordinance was not a problem for the PML-N but a national issue.
He said the PML-N had no offer from the government on changing in the NAB law on condition of amendments in the 18th amendment nor it will be a part of any such bargain. He regretted that people having no political affiliations had been languishing in jails due to "black law" of the NAB.
Khawaja Salman, also a former provincial health minister, dissatisfaction over the government's measures to fight coronavirus pandemic. He lamented that the doctors and paramedical staff had been affected with the virus for not being provided with the protective equipments.
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