ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on National Accountability Laws is meeting on Tuesday (today) to discuss the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) eight-point objections raised against the final draft of the National Accountability Commission (NAC) bill.

The NAC bill, aimed at replacing the controversial National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, was being drafted to bring generals and judges under the accountability net, but the PTI and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) sabotaged the committee’s year-long effort in its 13th meeting held on Oct 11.

The 15th meeting of the committee, chaired by its chairman Law Minister Zahid Hamid, will be held at the Parliament House.

Interestingly, none of the eight points raised by the PTI mentioned any such provision which could bring generals and judges within the NAC’s purview.

Till the 13th meeting, all parliamentary parties agreed upon the proposal of across-the-board accountability bringing judges and generals within purview but both PTI and MQM suddenly took a U-turn shattering the almost finalised bill.

The MQM outrightly rejected the draft bill while PTI representative Dr Shireen Mazari was of the view that her party would come up with its own recommendations for across-the-board accountability laws.

PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and a representative of the MQM attended all previous meetings of the committee but expressed no concern over the draft bill.

Earlier in the recent meeting, Dr Mazari — who replaced Mr Qureshi in the committee — informed the parliamentary body that her party submitted eight objections against the bill. The PTI believed that the NAC bill provided for the creation of an independent Accountability Investigation Agency (AIA) and the so called separation was both “illusory and illogical”.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017