Treasury, Opp trade accusations in Senate.

Byline: Tahir Niaz

ISLAMABAD -- The Treasury and Opposition members in the Upper House of the Parliament on Wednesday traded barbs, with Treasury members accusing the Opposition leaders of committing corruption and money-laundering in the past and the Opposition members alleging that the incumbent PTI government was pursuing political victimisation in the name of accountability.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs announced that the government will convene a regular session of the Senate in next two to three days during which all the recently promulgated Ordinances will be laid.

Former Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani was of the view that it would be more appropriate if the Ordinances were laid in the House during the requisitioned session.

He pointed out that the session had been requisitioned as the government did not convene a session for over two months.

Taking part in the discussion, Senator Farooq H Naek of the PPP announced that the Opposition in the House will disapprove recently promulgated National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance.

Govt to convene regular session in 2-3 days: Minister

He described the same as the worst form of victimisation. He was of the view that under an Amendment to the NAB Ordinance introduced during Pervez Musharraf regime, the one facing a corruption charge of over Rs 50 million will get C-class in jail.

He said that under the jail manual, the class in a jail is allocated as per the status of the accused in society and the amount he pays in taxes.

He referred to Article 25 of the Constitution which guarantees equality before law.

He alleged that former President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Yusuf Raza Gilani were among the victims of witch-hunt.

He advocated respect for those who held important offices in the past. Senator Mushtaq Ahmad of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) alleged that the NAB was being used for political engineering and victimisation.

Referring to revocation of Senator Hamdullah's nationality, Ahmad lamented and sought action against those responsible for it.

PPP Parliamentary leader in the House Sherry Rehman noted that...

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