ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has sent back the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 unsigned to the Prime Minister’s office, saying the bill, as passed by the parliament, was regressive in nature, and would promote corruption.
The president said the bill also sent a message to the corrupt, who had amassed tremendous wealth and about which there was no doubt in the minds of the people of Pakistan, that they were not accountable and free to continue plunder.
“I believe the Bill as passed by the Parliament is regressive in nature, it will promote corruption by ensuring that the long arm of the law has been crippled,” the president emphasized.
“Having weak accountability is against the basic rights of the people of Pakistan who are the suffering masses, and, therefore, it is also against the fundamentals of our Constitution,” President Secretariat Press Wing in a press release on Monday quoted the president as saying. The president lamented that the small man would be caught for petty crimes while the corrupt rich would remain free to continue with their abhorrent practices.
The president said that it was sad that rather than structurally improving the institution, the enactment of these amendments was like demolishing the process of accountability without an alternate system being in place, making it sterile and allowing extractive institutions and practices to prosper.
“Weak laws, such as this one, create a facade of justice that blatantly hides a corrupt elite capture, and nations that accommodate such laws ensure very damaging exploitation of the common man perpetuating an unjust society,” he added.
The president reiterated that he personally followed, upheld and abided by the Constitution of Pakistan.
“We must act upon the injunctions of the Quran and Sunnah, and above all, I am answerable to Allah and ask for His forgiveness. Therefore, I painfully state that my conscience does not allow me to sign this Bill,” the president maintained.
The president said that he was aware of the fact, in view of the ‘deeming’ provision under Article 75 (2) of the Constitution of Pakistan, that the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 would be enacted into law even if the President of Pakistan did not sign the bill.