-Imran terms the move as ‘NRO 2’
-Fawad says amendments made for providing relief to Sharifs, Zardaris
-Despite President’s disapproval NAB Bill enacted into Law
By Makhdoom
Shehryar Babar
ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan lashed out at the federal government on Monday for amending the NAB law, terming the changes to the law as “NRO 2”.
In a series of tweets, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman said that, “Today, with this one amended NAB law, were are heading towards destruction by removing white-collar criminals from accountability.”
“Today is Black Day in Pak’s history when Imported govt of crooks amended NAB law comes in ending accountability. Entire economy & pol system of Pak was derailed thru US-backed regime change conspiracy simply to give this cabal of crooks another NRO. PMLN’s Dastgir confirmed this,” Imran tweeted as he referred to the revelations made by Khurram Dastgir during a TV show.
Referring to the changes in the NAB law, Imran said, “Rs 1100 bn of the Rs 1200 bn that was being investigated by NAB will now be out of NAB’s jurisdiction, giving this criminal mafia their NRO2.”
He added that history will not forgive all those who enabled the ouster of the PTI government.
“At a time when our economy had stabilised & was moving towards sustainable growth of 6%, the conspirators chose to destabilise Pak by sending the economy into a tailspin & dropping a price bomb on our people – just to give these criminals NRO2,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, despite knowing the pact that the amendment will be made Law, President Arif Alvi refused to approve the amendments in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law, calling the new legislation “regressive” in nature.
In a letter addressed to the prime minister, he said, “In view of the ‘deeming’ provision under Article 75 (2) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 will be enacted into law even if the President of Pakistan does not sign the Bill”.
Giving his reasons for his refusal to sign the bill, the president said, “I believe the Bill as passed by the Parliament is regressive in nature, it will promote corruption by ensuring that the long arm of the law has been crippled”.
According to Alvi, “It is also a message to the corrupt who have amassed tremendous wealth, of which there is no doubt in the minds of the people of Pakistan, that they are not accountable and are free to continue to plunder”.
He argued that through these amendments “the corrupt rich will remain free to continue with their blood sucking abhorrent practices”.
“Having weak accountability is against the basic rights of the people of Pakistan who are the suffering masses, and therefore, it is also against the fundamentals of our Constitution itself,” he went on to add.
Speaking about the issues with the NAB law, Alvi said there were “flaws” in the law as observed by the judiciary.
“This law like all other laws vesting authority in the executive was abused for political exigencies by those in power. Because of this reason along with the role of vested interests, the accountability process in Pakistan became quite ineffective.”
In a press conference in Islamabad Monday, former Information Minister and PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry alleged that the PML-N and PPP along with other opposition parties linked their support to then-PTI government over FATF legislation to changes in the NAB law.
The PTI leader claimed as a result of changes to the NAB law, Section 14 has been removed. According to Fawad, the said section pertained to the suspect producing evidence of their illegal wealth.
He further claimed that the definition of assets had also been changed in the new law. “Section 21 will help Maryam Nawaz in the Avenfield case, whereas Khawaja Saad Rafique will be benefitted in the Ashiana housing scam,” the PTI leader maintained.
“An amendment in Section 4 would facilitate Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,” Fawad stated.
He added that the government wanted to end the autonomy of NAB and bring it under the control of the interior ministry. The PTI leader furthered that “the government inserted special amendments in the NAB law to facilitate the leaders facing cases linked to Panama Papers”. He added that as a result of the changes to the NAB law, there would be no investigations into assets owned by the family of the accused.
Fawad alleged that the first NRO to PML-N was given by former military dictator Pervez Musharraf and now a “second NRO was on the cards”. As a result of the first NRO, cases against the Sharif and the Zardari families were quashed while this ‘second NRO’ is also benefiting both families.
He claimed that the PTI recovered Rs487 billion in its three-year tenure through NAB. He said such recoveries could have been used to subsidise oil and energy prices.
Fawad also referred to the PML-N leader’s interview, and claimed that the PML-N leader admitted that Imran was ousted to save the then opposition leadership from accountability.
