what the what!!

By Ahmad Noorani ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari secretly issued an

ordinance on Sept 16, taking away major powers from chairman NAB and giving them to
the law ministry, in what appears to be a move to manipulate important corruption cases.
Amending theNAB law, the new ordinance has transferred the powers to shift cases from
one accountability court to another while they are in the process of hearing, from the
NAB chairman to the Law Ministry.
Law Ministry and political sources are unable to explain the mystery of why the
amendment was kept a closely guarded secret and was not made public. The ordinance,
issued by President Zardari, is named ‘Ordinance No. XVIII of 2010, an ordinance to
further amend the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.
Though on the cover of the ordinance it is stated: “And whereas the National Assembly
and Senate are not in the session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist
which render it necessary to take immediate action,” the fact of the matter is that sessions
of the National Assembly and Senate were already called and there was no emergency of
this sort that issuance of such an ordinance was necessary.
The ordinance gives blanket powers to Law Minister Babar Awan, in the name of the
federal government, to transfer any corruption case from any accountability court to any
newly established accountability court, a power, which originally rested with the
Chairman of NAB exclusively.
Top Law Ministry sources, while giving the copies of the ordinance to The News,
confided that the law minister was planning to set up accountability courts in Multan and
Islamabad and some other cities, in the name of implementing the NRO judgment, which
so far has not been implemented.
The plan is to appoint blue eyed judges in the new accountability courts, as approval of
any chief justice is not mandatory. Under the plan, sensitive and important cases of top
PPP leaders will be transferred to the newly established courts where the proceedings can
be controlled and positive results can be obtained.
The text of the ordinance reads: “Now therefore, in exercise of his powers conferred by
clause (1) of article 89 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President
is pleased to make and promulgate the following ordinance. 1- Short title and
commencement:- (1) This ordinance may be called the National Accountability
(Amendment) Ordinance of 2010. (2) It shall come into force at once. 2. Amendment of
section 16-A, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999
(XVIII of 1999), hereinafter referred to as the said ordinance, in section 16-A, after the
sub-section (a), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely;- “(aa) Power of
federal government to transfer cases. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other
law for the time being in force, where a new accountability court(s) has been established
at any place, the federal government may by order transfer cases and proceedings
pending before other accountability court(s) to such newly established court(s) relating to
its territorial jurisdiction and it shall not be necessary for such court(s) to recall any
witness or again to record any evidence that may have been recorded.
3. Substitution of section 31-E, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the said ordinance, for
section 31-E, the following shall be substituted, namely; “31-E. Protection of witnesses
etc.- The government, chairman NAB or the court, within available resources, may in the
facts and circumstances of a case take such measures as may be considered necessary for
the safety, security and protection of witnesses, judges, public prosecutors, counsel and
their families.
4. Omission of section 33-A.- In the said ordinance, section 33-A, shall be omitted.”
One former top NAB official Brig Farooq Hameed told The News it was unfair and
dishonesty on the part of the government to take away these powers from the NAB
chairman when the government had been forced to appoint a neutral and credible person
in consultation with the opposition.
“The amendment, done so secretly, betrays the spirit of the Supreme Court order that the
new NAB chairman should be appointed after consultations. This amounts to taking away
key powers of the new chairman before his appointment.”
The News

Now that CJ has given govt 10 days to appoint chairman of nab , pee pee pee does this. I
used to be an unbeliever but now im convinced ,this govt must leave or be hung from the
highest pole.