KARACHI – Recently promulgated the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019 was challenged at the Supreme Court on Saturday.
A citizen named Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi filed a petition at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry, challenging the amended law that had been signed by President Arif Alvi on Friday.
Government of Pakistan, the secretaries of the law and justice ministry and interior ministry, NAB chairperson, NAB headquarters director-general and others have been made parties in the case.
“All citizens are equal in the Constitution of Pakistan,” stated Naqvi. “The amended ordinance is a violation of the Constitution and the fundamental rights of citizens.”
Terming the federal cabinet’s approval of the amended ordinance unprincipled and doubtful, the petitioner said it had clipped the wings of the bureau as the NAB was pushed under the subordination of the scrutiny committee.
“It is being feared that the ordinance will affect the possibility of equal accountability for all,” said the petition, stating that it had been done to protect “favoured” persons from accountability cases.
