Opposition leaders in the Senate on Thursday submitted a notice to the Senate secretariat 'disapproving' a recently passed presidential ordinance that seeks to disbar for life corrupt public office holders and government servants.

The National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2017, signed by the president on Jan 7, modified the country's accountability laws to disbar for life public office holders and government servants who seek to benefit from the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) plea bargain and voluntary return laws.

The government had sent the ordinance to the Senate to make it an act of parliament.

The notification for its 'disapproval', signed by 38 members of the Senate, will now be taken up for discussion at the next Senate session.

If a resolution is passed against the ordinance, the law, which took force on January 9, will stand rejected by the Senate and recommended to be withdrawn by the president under Article 89(2)(a)(ii) of the Constitution.

Earlier in the week, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's Shah Mehmood Qureshi had called on the the government to retract the presidential ordinance.

Qureshi, during the first meeting of a parliamentary committee created to review Pakistan's accountability laws, had asked why a presidential ordinance had been passed after the government formed a parliamentary committee to review the country's accountability laws.

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