KARACHI: With the Pakistan Peoples Party set to present a bill in the Sindh Assembly to repeal the applicability of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 in the province, opposition parties see the move as an attempt to save bigwigs of the ruling party from impending accountability.

On Friday, the Sindh cabinet unanimously approved a draft bill to repeal the applicability of the NAO, better known as the NAB law, in provincial departments and autonomous bodies being controlled by the Sindh government. The draft law will be tabled in the Sindh Assembly session beginning on Monday (tomorrow).

Although the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has curtailed the role of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the province and established their own provincial Ehtesab Commission through legislation, opposition parties in Sindh — the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional — cast doubts over the Sindh government’s intentions and agreed in their informal contacts on Saturday to work in unison to resist the bill tooth and nail.

The opposition parties will sit together on Monday, before the assembly session, to devise a joint strategy to oppose the bill.

Opposition legislators questioned the timing of the move as, they said, almost every minister and government official linked with the ruling party was either booked in corruption cases or facing investigations by the NAB.

They expressed apprehensions over the Sindh government’s plan to hand over the NAB’s role to the Anti-Corruption Establishment, which is not an independent organisation as it is controlled by the provincial government.

“We condemn the attempt to abolish [the role of] a federal institution in Sindh...it appears those indulging in massive corruption are now denying the institution an opportunity to hold them accountable,” said MPA Nand Kumar, the parliamentary party leader of the PML-F in the Sindh Assembly.

He said the government should bring amendments to reform the existing laws, including the accountability law, but the government did not believe in reforms. “They only want to save the corrupt.”

PTI parliamentary party leader in the Sindh Assembly Samar Ali Khan was also critical of the PPP government’s move. “Sindh is the most corrupt province of the federation. By taking this step the rulers only want to save their own skin, instead of eliminating corruption.”

He said the NAB was being attacked against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Panama Papers case and subsequent proceedings of the joint investigation team, as the PPP (leadership) thought after the Sharifs they would be next in line for accountability.

Asked why his party would oppose the government bill when the PTI in KP had already done the same thing around two years ago, he conceded that there were some issues in KP and efforts were going on to depoliticise the institution.

The MQM’s Faisal Subzwari also said his party would oppose the bill in the house. “Our team is apprehensive of the bill,” he said.

The PPP is the single-largest party in the Sindh Assembly. Because of its numeric strength it can get any law passed without the support of any of the opposition parties.

However, Mr Kumar of the PML-F said the opposition might approach the court against any “unlawful and unconstitutional” act.

Currently, the NAB is conducting inquiries against 200-250 persons in Sindh. Of them, around 15-20 are politicians and dozens of others bureaucrats, majority of whom belong to the ruling party in Sindh.

Senior PPP leaders Dr Asim Hussain and Sharjeel Memon are already facing corruption cases in courts.

On its part, the PPP government termed the NAB law “dictatorial and draconian” and said it wanted a transparent system to prevent corruption and not to use it against its political opponents.

Advocate General of Sindh Barrister Zamir Ghumro, who briefed the cabinet on the merit of the draft bill to repeal the NAO on Friday, told Dawn that certain provisions of the NAB law — envisaging 90-day remand, right of bail to an accused and plea bargain — were in contravention to the constitution.

He said the bill, if passed by the assembly, would require the Sindh governor’s assent to become law. “There are two proposals: to strengthen the Sindh Enquiries and Anti-Corruption Act, 1991 or to introduce a new act for prevention of corruption.”

However, he made it clear that the word “accountability” or “Ehtesab” would not be part of the new legislation.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2017