The government has decided to table the draft proposed accountability commission bill in the National Assembly in its next session after Eid-ul-Fitr, it has been learnt. The National Accountability Commission Bill is pending with National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice for a long time but it could not be passed due to differences on some issues between the ruling PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Sources said that National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice would meet after Eid-ul-Fitr and would okay the bill regardless of the PML-N) reservations on certain clauses of the draft bill. The PML-N wants the process of accountability from 1947 onwards while the PPP is of the view that it would not be viable for the commission to cover the period since creation of Pakistan and want the process should be started from 1987.
Besides, PML-N wants the commission should be headed by a serving judge of the higher judiciary while the PPP is of the opinion that head of the commission could also be a former judge or a retired bureaucrat. Talking to Business Recorder, chairperson National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice Begum Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry confirmed that meeting of the panel would be convened after Eid, adding that the committee would try to develop consensus on the bill.
Nasim Chaudhry, a PPP lawmaker, however, termed a PML-N member Zahid Hamid as the main hurdle in passage of the bill. "A former law minister of Musharraf era unfortunately doesn't want the commission to be constituted," she said without naming anyone. She said 'enough is enough' and now the committee would pass the bill regardless of PML-N reservations.
She maintained the committee has also summoned a copy of Jan Lokpal Bill, a proposed anti-corruption law presented in the Indian parliament, to critically analyse the law. To a question, she said that the draft of the bill had almost been finalised, adding that the committee incorporated suggestions sent by Supreme Court Bar Association, Lahore Bar Association and other bars of the country and now the committee would pass the bill without further delay.
She claimed that PML-N's 'ill intentions' were hurdle in passage of the law, adding that the PML-N's members in the committee came up with different conditions every time. "The PML-N raises new objections in every meeting and hinders its passage," she said. Regarding PML-N's demand to start the process of accountability from 1947, she said that it was not feasible and would entangle the new accountability commission into a useless exercise, adding that PPP was against accountability from 1947. "With a number of relevant people have passed away and the record destroyed, how we can start accountability from 1947," she argued.
She said the PPP was of the opinion that the accountability should start from 1985 or another date, which could make the accountability process feasible for the new accountability commission. "Starting accountability from 1947 will be tantamount to ridiculing accountability itself," she added. She further said that the government wanted to pass the bill with consensus but PML-N was not serious, adding that she personally had held meeting with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to sort out the differences but it yielded no positive results.
She said another committee headed by Mian Raza Rabbani had also been constituted and met PML-N's chief Mian Nawaz Sharif to evolve consensus. On the other hand, PML-N members in the committee, Zahid Hamid and Anusha Rehman Khan, who had submitted dissenting note on the bill, have been accusing the government of non-seriousness in passage of the bill. PML-N has proposed around 58 amendments to the draft bill.
PML-N's lawmaker, Zahid Hamid, could not be contacted despite repeated contacts on his cell phone for PML-N version. The rest of the political parties Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Muttahida Qaumi Movement and ANP want early enactment of the new accountability bill as early as possible.