Pakistan: Prez refuses to sign 'regressive' NAB & election reform bills

In Pakistan, after returning a bill seeking to reverse the changes made in election laws by the former PTI government, President Arif Alvi on Monday rejected on more  bill  related to amending the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance due to the “flaws in its implementation”. According to a statement released on the official Twitter handle of the President of Pakistan, Alvi said that as conceived originally, the bill took inspiration from “Hazrat Umar’s incident” when asked about the source of extra cloth in his cloak. “The onus in financial crimes is on the accused to provide a money trail,” the statement read. Dr Alvi said that he believed the bill to be "regressive in nature", adding that it would "promote corruption by ensuring that the long arm of the law is crippled".

Unfortunately there were flaws in NABs implementation. It was misused for political exigencies by those in power & by vested interests. While public clamored for return of looted wealth, long judicial processes & poor prosecution failed most efforts. Instead of improving the law

— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) June 20, 2022

He also reiterated that the public clamoured for the return of the nation's looted wealth, but long judicial processes and poor prosecution failed most efforts. “Instead of improving the law to avoid miscarriage, to close loopholes [and] make it stronger, we are weakening it beyond recognition,” the statement read. Therefore, with deep discomfort and pain, I state that my conscience does not allow me to sign this Bill, Dr Alvi said. 

As per Dawn report, the two bills were passed by the National Assembly and Senate last month and were subsequently sent to the president for approval. President Alvi sent back the election reforms bill unsigned on Sunday a second time, doing the same with the NAB bill on Monday. According to one of the key amendments, the Act “shall be deemed to have taken effect on and from the commencement of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999”. The chairman will be appointed by the federal government after consultation between the leaders of the house and the opposition in the National Assembly. The NAB (Second Amendment) Bill 2021 states that the bureau’s deputy chairman, to be appointed by the federal government, would become the acting chairman following the completion of the chairman’s tenure.