NAB amendments

A stiff deadlock persists between the government and opposition over the amendments to NAB laws. The government wants to link anti-money laundering laws with NAB in accordance with the FATF action plan but the opposition is finding reasons to reduce the powers on the anti-graft watchdog.

The opposition has proposed 35 amendments to proposed NAB law, suggesting to delink it with FATF and exclude money laundering from the list of offences. Among them is the proposal that NAB should not investigate any reference below one billion rupees and the tenure of the NAB chairman should be reduced. The opposition has also objected to a ten-year ban against anyone convicted by NAB from holding public office and those under investigation to be reinstated after suspension.

The government does not have much time on its hands as the next deadline for review of the FATF action plan is on September 20, yet the opposition is making preposterous demands to exonerate themselves. Foreign Minister Qureshi has said these demands by the opposition unacceptable as it will weaken Pakistan’s case at the FATF against money laundering and terror financing regimes.

The opposition claims that the government is not serious over the proposed laws. The government is refusing to budge, stating the amendments are tantamount to NAB’s closure rather than punishing those who plundered the nation’s wealth. Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected the amendments and has refused to compromise over the accountability process.

The NAB was assailed by the Supreme Court last week and was instructed to file stronger references with presentable evidence and more than fifty eyewitnesses. NAB chairman was also instructed to wind up investigation within three months; a task he said was impossible. The top court also want 120 more accountability courts to expedite the process and reduce the case backlog.

The opposition has since been decrying that NAB should be shut down for its weak performance, arrest first and then investigate policy, and constant policy interference. It claims that those investigated by NAB are political prisoners and must be released, while the government maintains that opposition failed to amend NAB laws when it was in power.

This is no longer a political rather a national security issue on which all parties must unite and make efforts to get Pakistan off FATF’s grey list. There is no other solution but to strengthen NAB laws against money laundering and National Action Plan against terror financing. The should be an opportunity against personal and vested interests at the cost of the nation.