Amending NAB law.

THE government has promulgated an ordinance through which it has amended the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 so that any person arrested for an offence involving an amount above Rs50m shall be entitled to 'C' class or equivalent in prison. This selective amendment in the NAB law, while many controversial elements remain in place, has rightfully elicited concerns that the government is only interested in amendments that affect its political opponents. This is unfortunate because the NAB law in its present shape is a holdover from the Musharraf years and its genesis is rooted in that regime's intent to persecute and punish politicians on the other side of the divide. Framed with such a purpose in mind, the ordinance was packed with sweeping powers that often bypassed the established due process of law within the ambit of the courts. It is a telling failure of political will and vision that successive governments have refused to amend the law in order to bring it closer to a shape befitting a constitutional democracy.

This failure has come at a cost. Untethered from the constraints of the judiciary and unaccountable in any real sense to any other institution in the dispensation of its brand of accountability, NAB is today riding roughshod over politicians, bureaucrats and people from many other walks of life. The law in its present form allows...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT