NAB will become meaningless if opposition\u2019s proposals followed: FM
\nour correspondent
\nislamabad
\nThe Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government has rejected the opposition\u2019s proposed amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, saying it is against the country\u2019s interest and will hurt Pakistan\u2019s position in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
\n\u201cThe opposition had proposed 35 amendments to the NAB ordinance which were presented before Prime Minister Imran Khan and after detailed discussion the PTI government decided to reject them,\u201d Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Tuesday.
\nHe was speaking on the floor of National Assembly in Islamabad after the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Business comprising members of both opposition and treasury benches met to reach a consensus on proposed amendments to the law that governs the country\u2019s top graft buster, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Reading the opposition proposed amendments, Qureshi said anti-money laundering laws will be excluded from the \u201clist of offences\u201d of NAB if proposal was accepted. \u201cThis is against the objective of FATF and will cause damage to the Pakistan\u2019s interest.\u201d FATF has given the September 2020 deadline to Pakistan to comply with the 27-point action plan and the federal government is in the process of meeting the remaining legal requirements.
\nTerming the suggestions \u201cshocking\u201d, the foreign minister said the opposition had proposed that cases below Rs1 billion should not be dealt by the country\u2019s top graft buster and the tenure of its chairman should also be reduced.
\n\u201cAs a matter of fact the incumbent chairman NAB was appointed by PML-N and PPP with consensus we [PTI] had no role in it,\u201d he said while dispelling the speculations that the government was mulling to extend tenure of NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal.
\nOpposition presser
\nOpposition lawmakers staged a walk out from the proceedings of the committee after the government\u2019s lawmakers refused to accept their suggestions.
\nAddressing a press conference outside the Parliament House, PML-N senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said they won\u2019t negotiate with the government over the NAB laws alleging that the PTI government lacked seriousness over the issue.
\nSpeaking alongside Abbasi, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman also concurred with his views and vowed to not cooperate with the government on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAB will become meaningless if opposition\u2019s proposals followed: FM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n