ISLAMABAD: The fate of the new accountability law continues to hang in the balance as a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has once again called for bringing generals and judges under the ambit of accountability laws, thus exposing the varying stances of members of the parliamentary committee on national accountability law despite their claims of arriving at a consensus.

During the committee’s meeting on Thursday, presided over by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, PML-N’s Senator Javed Abbasi demanded that the law’s purview be extended to generals and judges.

The committee received a second jolt when Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar announced his resignation from the committee in protest against his own party’s U-turn over the issue of across-the-board accountability. Sources told Dawn that Mr Babar had sent his resignation to the committee chairperson after he was made to change his earlier stance.

The law minister confirmed that a PML-N senator had demanded across-the-board accountability during the meeting, but added that it did not mean that the committee had changed its previous decision of exempting judges and generals from accountability laws.

PML-N senator demands across-the-board accountability

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Hamid said that some members had wanted to seek a “confirmation” over the issue from the party leadership. The committee had now decided to speed up work and would meet twice a week, he said, adding that the next meeting would be held on Nov 14.

Controversial matters would be decided through a vote, he said.

Earlier at the 16th meeting of the parliamentary committee, its members had claimed to have arrived at a consensus regarding the purview of the new accountability law.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had not only opposed the idea of bringing generals and judges under the ambit of the proposed National Accountability Commission (NAC), but had also rejected the basic gist of the NAC Bill 2017. The party had said that it wanted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to continue to work as it was without being replaced by a new law.

Earlier, the PTI, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) had objected to the NAC Bill, apparently to block the way of any legislation seeking accountability of generals and judges. However in the last meeting, the main opposition PPP, who had been staunch advocate of the proposal, took a U-turn and agreed that judges and generals would not be held accountable under the new law. Interestingly enough, the PML-N, which has been criticising the judiciary and the military establishment since Nawaz Sharif was ousted from the office of prime minister, had also agreed.

At that time, the law minister had stated that all parties had rejected the proposal moved by PPP’s Farhatullah Babar to bring judges and generals under accountability laws. The PPP, he had said, had withdrawn the proposal.

The senator who had moved the proposal, Mr Babar, was not present at the 16th meeting of the committee, and Senator Naveed Qamar had represented the PPP in his stead.

Mr Hamid had stated that all parliamentary parties were on the same page regarding the proposal up till the committee’s 12th meeting, but in the 16th meeting, the proposal was rejected by all parties, including the ruling PML-N.

Sources in the PPP told Dawn that Mr Babar had not been taken into confidence before the PPP changed its stance. They said that he had also expressed anger over the move in an emotional speech delivered in the Senate last week. Mr Babar had previously resigned from the Senate’s defence committee citing personal reasons.

When contacted, PML-N’s Senator Javed Abbasi denied reports that he had changed his stance and claimed that he had demanded across-the-board accountability from day one.

When reminded that the law minister had claimed that the committee had arrived at a consensus, Mr Abbasi said the law was being discussed in the committee and any final decision on it would be taken through vote.

“Till the voting time, the stance could keep on changing,” he said, adding that there was still a long way to go till the committee presented its final draft.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2017