ISLAMABAD: Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz on Sunday said the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wanted to change the law pertaining to the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.
Speaking at a show on a private media outlet, he said he was unaware of talks with the opposition on the NFC award or the 18th amendment.
It may be noted here that the government wants to alter the 18th Amendment and has approached the opposition parties in this regard. The said amendment provides autonomy to provinces in fiscal domain among other things.
About the National Assembly session, he claimed that the opposition parties only want to summon the National Assembly proceedings for point-scoring purposes.
Speaking to a private TV channel, he said that the National Assembly and Senate sessions have been summoned on the requisition of the opposition parties. He, however, claimed that those who requisitioned the sessions won’t attend the proceedings. “The assembly session should not be held in the current circumstances for a couple of more weeks,” he suggested citing fresh coronavirus cases among the parliamentarians.
Speaking regarding NAB law, the information minister said that the PPP lawmaker Farooq H Naek prepared a draft proposing amendments in the NAB law. However, the opposition parties wanted a law that allowed free passage to their leaderships facing corruption charges, he claimed.
“We want an institution that is independent and have enough powers to carry out accountability,” Shibli Faraz said while rejecting charges of political victimization in the guise of accountability.
He said that although NAB was used as a tool to harass political opponents in the past, but still its success rate in recovering looted money was upto 30 percent.
He further called for revamping the FBR and income tax department so that they could operate independently without any political pressures.
Shibli Faraz further said that he unaware of the reasons behind the removal of the former special assistant on information Firdous Ashiq Awan and also denied that any inquiry was launched against her soon after her removal.
