NA rejects bill seeking permission before accused lawmakers arrest

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) Tuesday rejected a bill seeking scrutiny of allegations against the lawmakers by a special committee before their arrest with authority to decide at the preliminary stage about further legal proceedings against the accused.

The bill – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment in Article-66) – was sponsored by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Syed Javed Husnain but it was rejected after being opposed by the Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Maleeka Ali Bokhari.

The mover of the bill said the parliament was the supreme body which legislates for welfare of the people but its members could be arrested unlike other institutions which had their internal system to investigate allegations against their employees.

He suggested that institutions must write to NA speaker or Senate chairman in case of any allegation against any parliamentarian.

The custodians of the houses should constitute special committees which should investigate and decide whether its member was guilty or not, Hasnain said adding police could not arrest any personnel of anti-corruption department while anti-corruption did not take action against personnel of the Federal Investigation Agency.

Like such institutions, the parliament should have authority to review or scrutinize the charges against its members. The parliamentary secretary for law and justice opposed the bill and said public representatives should be accountable of their acts as they were more responsible as compared to the others.

Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Naveed Qamar said ethics committees existed in various parliaments of the world and it would not be strange here if cases against the parliamentarians were reviewed by the parliament at the initial stage.