ISLAMABAD: As senators called for bringing military generals and judges under the ambit of accountability, with some alleging that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had been removed for asserting civilian authority, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan alleged on Wednesday that the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader had played a role in the dismissal of three elected governments in collusion with the army and the judiciary.

Taking part in a discussion on measures to combat corruption, with a focus on offshore companies, across-the-board accountability and a new anti-graft mechanism, the opposition leader asked Mr Sharif to admit this before the nation, if he did not want to apologise.

He claimed that Mr Sharif had a role in twice overthrowing the governments led by the late Benazir Bhutto, besides the disqualification of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who he now was saying should not have been disqualified.

Senator Ahsan referred to the Supreme Court judgement in the Asghar Khan case, saying that Mr Sharif had also received Rs9.5 million from the political wing of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to rig the 1990 general elections as a component of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad.

Senators call for bringing judges, generals under ambit of accountability

He also asked the PML-N to explain against whom it was protesting. “Is this a protest against the federal or provincial governments, or the judiciary or the army?”

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senator said the government should bring a law for the accountability of judges and generals in parliament. “If you are helpless, tell us who is preventing you from doing this.”

About objections to the disqualification of the former prime minister for the salary he had never drawn, Mr Ahsan said the surfacing of such a document was itself a matter of shame for the entire nation. He said more investigations were required into the Iqama (work permit) issue and alleged that the Supreme Court played soft on Mr Sharif. He said Mr Sharif should have been the main accused in the record-tampering case against the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s suspended chairman Zafar Hijazi.

PPP’s Farhatullah Babar said no accountability mechanism would have credibility unless it brought under its ambit the judges and generals who had traditionally been treated as sacred cows. He said a historic opportunity had presented itself before the bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on Accountability to make an anti-corruption legislation that applied to all strata of society.

He said the committee had agreed on all sections of the draft of the legislation and only a clause pertaining to the definition of a holder of public office remained to be sorted out. If the bipartisan committee failed to give the nation an across-the-board accountability mechanism then parliament would only have itself to blame, he said.

The senator said a huge difference between assets and income was not the only yardstick for measuring corruption. Huge assets were also accumulated through apparently legal mechanisms like the statutory regulatory orders (SROs) and rules and regulations framed by some entities to benefit their serving and retired employees in extraordinary ways and allotting to them huge pieces of land.

He called for investigating the legality of such SROs and rules that doled out huge compensations by way of monetary benefits or land allotment to serving and retired employees.

Senator Babar said corruption bred in secrecy and called for a right to information (RTI) law to tear apart the shroud of concealment. He said the proposed RTI law should ensure that information was not withheld in the name of national security if it was related to exposing corruption, wrongdoing or the life of a citizen.

When he said that the judges and generals should not be beyond the scope of accountability, the Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said this was also his advice to the law minister. “If we compromise at this stage we will be in the dock of history,” he remarked. Mr Rabbani said the nation was looking towards parliament for steering the country out of the prevailing crisis and protecting the rule of law.

PPP parliamentary leader Taj Haider said the ‘third world’ would never make progress till offshore companies existed. Calling for across-the-board accountability, he said the politicians should present themselves in the first phase. He said the ruler of the country should have an unblemished character. “If your assets are disproportionate to your assets, that means you have done something wrong.”

Jehanzaib Jamaldini of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal alleged that Mr Sharif had been disqualified because a foreign country was angry with him for not sending troops.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf parliamentary leader Nauman Wazir said corruption had to be stopped at the top level, be it party leaders or others, including those in the judiciary and law-enforcement agencies.

He proposed that any person having movable or immovable assets abroad should not be qualified to be a lawmaker.

Sardar Azam Musakhel of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami party said that if those who abrogated the Constitution were not punished, it would be tantamount to abetting the corrupt.

Mian Atiq Sheikh of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said 179 major corruption cases were pending with the National Accountability Bureau. “If the case is about corruption, the decision should also be on corruption, or there will be grand rallies.”

Senator retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum of the PML-N said politically motivated decisions also amounted to corruption. He said the judiciary and military should not be blamed and the individuals responsible for wrongdoings should be pinpointed. He said those who lent political or legal assistance in abrogation of the Constitution should also be called corrupt.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2017