‘Is NAB law only there for politicians?’ asks Raza Rabbani during Senate session

The first Senate session of the year, convened by the government on a 24-hour notice, took place on Wednesday. A regular session of the Senate was last held from Aug 29 to Sept 3. Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani while addressing the house raised questions on the amendments proposed by the government to the country’s accountability law. He said the government through the amendments had exempted businessmen, bureaucrats, judges and the military from being proceeded against under the law. “Who is then left? Only you and I are left,” he said, addressing the Senate chairman. “Is the NAB law only there for politicians?” he asked, suggesting that the parliament should be allowed to “try the parliamentarians”.Otherwise, he said, if the government really wanted to conduct accountability, then “the only path to meaningful accountability is one law, one bureau [and] acrossthe-board accountability”. Rabbani said there should be “no holy cows” under a fair accountability law which according to him should apply to the judiciary and military as well as the bureaucracy. He said the government was not following the Constitution and its actions have rendered the parliament ineffective. Speaking about the issue of extension in the service of Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, which underwent strict scrutiny in the Supreme Court in November, Rabbani said the PTI government due to its “incapability and incapacity” had landed a national institution (army) into an “embarrassing position”. “What kind of a government is this which cannot issue three or four notifications?” he said, urging the government to let the parliament and the Senate play their constitutional roles.