National Assembly Extends NAB Ordinance For Another 120 Days

Amidst the opposition’s protest against the incomplete quorum in the National Assembly, the Speaker extended the newly amended National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 1999 for another 120 days.

According to the details, the opposition claimed that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Asad Qaiser, had allowed the passage of a resolution for the second extension of the NAB Ordinance despite the quorum being incomplete.

The issue of some private housing societies also came up for discussion when members of the National Assembly said that the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Housing Society, the Senate Employees Housing Society and the Supreme Court Employees Housing Society have nothing to do with the institutions whose names these societies started.

Shagufta Jamani, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), said that when she and many of her colleagues came to parliament in 2002, they had invested in the Senate Housing Society, the hard-earned money of many parliamentarians.

When MNA Iqbal Ahmed complained of widespread fraud in the Jammu and Kashmir Housing Society, the Home Secretary said that the NAB was investigating the matter.

In this regard, he added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had not issued any NOC to any housing society during its tenure.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that the Punjab government had not restored local bodies for more than two months despite the orders of the Supreme Court.

He demanded that the Supreme Court take legal action against Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar for violating his orders.

At the beginning of the meeting, PML-N lawmaker Sheikh Fayyaz-ud-Din pointed to the quorum due to the absence of members of the National Assembly.

After that, the Speaker of the National Assembly counted the members in the House which showed that the quorum was incomplete.

After which the proceedings were suspended till the completion of quorum.

However, the meeting resumed shortly afterwards.

When Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan moved a resolution to extend the NAB Ordinance, PPP lawmaker Sikandar Rahpoto drew attention to the lack of quorum.

However, the Speaker of the National Assembly allowed the resolution to be passed, which was strongly opposed by the opposition.

PML-N lawmaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi said that the speaker had violated the constitution for the sixth time. He added that no speaker had ever done so in the history of Parliament.

Only after the approval of the resolution did the Speaker of the National Assembly order the recount of the members of the Assembly, then the quorum was incomplete.

Leaders of all political parties have called for limiting the bureau’s “extraordinary powers.”

President Dr Arif Alvi had issued an ordinance in February for the post of Prosecutor General (Accountability) of NAB. This post is considered very important after the Chairman of NAB as no reference can be filed without the approval of the Prosecutor General.