Govt proposes amendments in law on returned references: Law Minister

Azam Nazeer Tarar, the federal minister for law and justice, announced on Friday that the government had proposed changes to sections IV and V of the NAB law in order to address the references provided by the accountability courts.

He added that the accountability courts had been given the authority to transfer the references to the appropriate forums if these did not fall under their purview. He said an ordinance would be issued up until the Parliament was in session. Speaking at a press conference, the minister stated that there had been rumors recently regarding the fate of the references returned by the accountability courts, but that in fact, only their forums had been altered.

The minister said that the chairman NAB would be authorized to send the inquiries to the relevant institutions. However, the investigations on various matters could be closed only if the court would be satisfied. He said that deputy chairman would use all the powers of chairman NAB in his absence. He said that previously NAB had been accused of political engineering and the apex court had also observed the same in Saad Rafiq case.

The leadership of PML-N was acquitted from NAB references by the courts under the previous laws, he said. Azam Nazeer Tarar said that PTI’s government had used the NAB for political purposes, adding that Imran Khan had introduced three ordinances during his tenure.  To a question, the minister said that under Article 19 of the constitution toshakhana record from 2000 to onward would be public soon on website or in print form without discrimination after being compiled. He, however, said that compiling record of toshakhana since 1947 was a huge and time taking exercise.

To another questioned, he said that there was a need that every institution should have self-accountability system.