ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that the opposition wanted 34 amendments in National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999, which was tantamount to abolishing it.
“Don’t blackmail us, neither we will be blackmailed,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned while addressing a press conference in Islamabad. Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar and Maleeka Bokhari were also present on this occasion.
He said the government would catch corrupt elements and no one would be spared. If we accepted opposition’s amendments then there would remain no accountability, he maintained.
“We cannot make amendments in NAB law for one person. No compromise will be made on accountability. Opposition wants to cover bad deeds of four tenures,” he said.
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The foreign minister said that the government wanted legislation to get into white list from grey list. He said India wanted to put Pakistan from grey list into black list. If Pakistan was placed into blacklist then we would have to face global restrictions, he maintained.
He also apprised that the PML-N had offered him foreign ministry, which he had rejected.
The National Assembly on Wednesday passed ‘The Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020]’ and ‘The United Nations (Security Council) (Amendment) Bill, 2020’ with a majority vote amid sloganeering from the opposition benches.
This legislation is related to fulfil certain requirements of the Financial Action Task Force in order to bring Pakistan out of FATF’s grey list.
The legislation is aimed at empowering the federal government to direct authorities in Pakistan to implement various measures, in the Security Council resolutions including the freezing and seizure of assets, travel ban and arms embargo on the entities and individuals, who are designated on the sanctions list of the United Nations.
UN Security Council Resolution 1373 requires member states to implement counter terrorism measures, especially countering the financing of terrorism through their domestic laws. This obligation is implemented in Pakistan through Anti-Pakistan Act, 1997.
Minister for Communication and Postal Services Murad Saeed said there will be no compromise on accountability and no NRO will be extended to anyone.
Taking floor of the National Assembly, he said it is regrettable that the opposition parties want NRO and are doing politics for extending support to an important legislation meant for national interest of the country.
The Minister said no concession will be given to those who have plundered Pakistan.
