Disapproval of NAB ordinance

Bringing the corrupt to the book is a lingering problem in Pakistan, and if someone ever thought the National Accountability Bureau would do it he was grossly mistaken. The backdoors provided by the NAB ordinance, courtesy its notorious Section 25A, available to the corrupt were never shut. Steal a billion, return a quarter of that and get back to the money-making magical chair - it was as simple as that. Some 1,560 government officials charged with corruption had used those backdoors. And this could have gone on and on, but for former Balochistan government finance secretary Mushtaq Raisiani's dramatic escape through those backdoors. It was unbelievable - the man stole something like forty billions but got scot-free by returning a fraction of the plundered booty. The nation was in shock, and then there was this hue and cry over it. The Bureau's boss stoutly defended his action, and the government too set about assuaging public anger, but only superficially - for reasons yet to be fully figured out. Nominally amending the original - mainly by rewording Section 25A but not completely shutting down the backdoors of plea bargain and voluntary return - it flaunted its act as a lock on those backdoors and some kind of a game changer. But no one was impressed by what looked so much cosmetic. No wonder then the Senate has disapproved the amended NAB ordinance. One must not lose sight of the fact that it was being the third presidential ordinance the upper house rejected in the last two years. That the opposition in the Senate would oppose the ordinance was expected. Some of the government Senators too would join the opposition and thus throw the presidential ordinance out of the window was however not expected. Plausibly, for them the changes injected into the original text of the ordinance were too insincere and deceptive to be tolerated.
The disapproval of the amended NAB ordinance by the Senate is quite a critical development both in terms of judging effectiveness of National Accountability Bureau as an anti-corruption mechanism and primacy of the country's elected parliament as principal lawmaker. Essentially, the NAB ordinance was amended in two respects: instead of securing approval for plea bargain deals from accountability courts, it was to go the ordinary courts and instead of guilty officials returning to their jobs they were barred from service for life. Not that corruption was banned; it was being declared a pardonable offence - and therefore a blot on the collective conscience of the nation. Given that there are so many laws to deal with corruption and yet it remains rampant - obviously something is missing from the scene. And that is, as pointed out by Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, 'one roof and one law through which all the corrupt whether in judiciary, military, civil or any other departments could be held accountable'. Instead of prevalent atomistic approach to fighting corruption let the parliament evolve a holistic position and legislate a comprehensive all-embracing anti-corruption law. Then there was also this clearly discernable attempt at bypassing the parliament - the amended NAB ordinance was promulgated when the Senate had already been summoned. Is it that the government knew that parliament will not accept the changes made in the NAB ordinance? Such a move smacks of anti- democratic mindset. In functioning democracies promulgation of ordinance is not a routine affair. Under the Constitution an ordinance can be issued by the President only when the Senate or National Assembly are not in session and he is "satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action". And that ordinance, according to the 18th Constitutional Amendment, shall stand repealed at the expiration of 120 days or before if it is disapproved by either of the two houses before that. Going by extensive changes made to the said Article under which ordinances can be promulgated it becomes clear that elected parliament is quite circumspect about need and timeline of presidential ordinances.