ISLAMABAD: The 13th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Accountability seems destined to come across hurdles when it meets on Wednesday to forge consensus on a law that is just and ruthless at the same time.

Headed by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, the parliamentary panel comprises 13 MNAs and seven senators.

It decided to hold meetings in camera in deference to sensitivities inherent in such a multi-party dialogue.

Hints dropped by Law Minister Zahid Hamid in his interaction with the media and information gathered from sources bring out one fact: the body has a long way to go before a consensus is possible on a comprehensive law that applies to politicians, the civilian bureaucracy as well as the military establishment and the judiciary.

The Senate, during debates on accountability, has been calling for an accountability law that has no room for sacred cows. Emboldened by the upper house’s assertiveness, Chair­man Raza Rabbani wrote an open letter pleading for across-the-board accountability.

In the wake of prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, too, had called for across-the-board accountability.

Other parties were not far behind. Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party proposed that the ‘holder of public office’ be redefined as “anyone paid out of the public exchequer”. According to the law minister, all parties, the PML-N included, seemed to agree with observations made by Mr Babar.

So what went wrong during the days leading to Wednesday’s meeting?

MNA Sheikh Rashid alleged last week that the government planned to bring in a law to “clip the military and the judiciary’s wings”.

Already besieged by allegations of foul play over the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat amendment, the law minister was quick to rebut the charge.

Zahid Hamid, who heads the committee, also appeared to be changing position when asked to comment on Sheikh Rashid’s statement. Dispelling an impression that a law was being framed against the military and the judiciary, he said the PML-N had reservations over the definition of “public office holder” proposed by a PPP senator.

But even before it, something more mysterious had happened at the last meeting of the committee a week before.

The PTI suddenly changed tack over the law. It said at the last meeting that changes made in the Election Reforms Bill for the “sole benefit of Nawaz Sharif” had created a crisis of confidence. The party sought time to discuss the law at a meeting on Oct 9 before making its position known. Startling as it was this position stunned everyone.

During a discussion later on the clause pertaining to the definition of ‘holder of public office’, Shah Mahmood Qureshi left the meeting quietly and Senator Azam Swati insisted that he would give his views after the Oct 9 meeting.

The MQM, for the first time, rejected the suggestion to bring the military and the judiciary within the ambit of the legislation, arguing the two institutions had their internal accountability mechanism.

A participant claimed the PTI at one stage had suggested that representatives of the military and the judiciary be invited to the committee’s meeting.

To all intents and purposes, hopes of hammering a uniform accountability law have died and Wednesday’s meeting is little more than ‘much ado about nothing’.

Senator Farhatullah Babar told Dawn that the PPP would not row back on the demand for across-the-board accountability.

“When people become too accustomed to power and privilege, they usually oppose transparency and accountability. They resist changes in the legal system and promote an environment that glorifies their resistance to checks on their authority,” he observed.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2017