By: Asem Mustafa
During the hearing of Imran Khan’s petition against the NAB amendment act, Supreme Court made the observation that a red line will be marked. The apex court has once again asked for the details of cases dropped consequently upon the NAB Amendment Act 2022 and the corruption cases transferred to other forums.
Earlier, Special Prosecutor NAB told the Supreme Court that no NAB case has been dropped due to amendments, nor NAB ended prosecution in any case, but few NAB cases have been transferred to relevant forums after amendments.
Chief Justice Supreme Court Justice Umar Atta Bandyal said that if the court does not intervene, it will be extremely unfair to the public. Justice Ejaz-ul-Ahsan during the hearing said that the matter before the court regarding the NAB amendments is about public trust and if it is proved that public faith in judiciary is damaged then the case will be decided accordingly.
The process of accountability in Pakistan has always been discriminatory as the political elite with connections get away with their crimes while jails are filled with commoners on petty crimes in addition to habitual criminals.
NAB had cases involving billionaires accused of looting the national exchequer besides deceiving people of their lifelong savings in, inter alia, housing societies’ scams.
NAB had been investigating various cases against important leaders of PML-N and PPP during the Tehreek-e-Insaaf regime. The prime minister, ministers and many stalwarts of PDM government were accused by NAB. It is widely understood that the latest amendments have been instrumental in reversal of many cases that had reached near conclusion.
These amendments in NAB made all those accused in the past getting a new lease of life as the punishment for the crimes was lifted and it is ironic that pending cases will be tried under the new law. The opposition claims that the amendment benefited the private housing society owners who extorted huge sums of money from the people, in addition to incumbent rulers.
In June 2022, Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan announced to approach the Supreme Court against the amendments. Imran Khan said that “Pakistan will not develop if the corrupt and powerful elite are not brought under the law.” Moreover the general public has also taken the amendment with suspicion that it tantamount to condoning corruption and embezzlements.
At the same time Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar claims that the Parliament had a threadbare discussion on 24 amendments for hours. According to the Minister, the NAB amendments were drafted under constitution and as per the aspirations of the superior judiciary.
It is noteworthy that the President returned the National Accountability Bill 2022 without his signature. The President had sent back the NAB Amendment Bill to the government for revision. Although the procedure of amendment can be declared correct from a democratic and legal point of view, still in the absence of the sole majority party PTI from the National Assembly questions its moral credibility still raises eyebrows. The observations during the hearing have generated a great deal of public interest and all eyes are on Supreme Court now.