Muhammad Asim Saddiqi 
Islamabad: During the recent talks between the PML-N and Pakistan People’s Party on the 27th Constitutional Amendment, the Pakistan People’s Party demanded lifetime immunity for the President and the abolition of the National Accountability Bureau.
Article 248 of the Constitution grants immunity to the President from any criminal proceedings during his term of office, stating that “no criminal proceedings of any kind shall be commenced or continued against the President or the Governor in any court of law during his term of office, whatever they may be.” However, despite this, the PPP demanded lifetime immunity beyond his term of office.
This means that if the parliament approves it, no new or old criminal proceedings can be initiated against the President even after he leaves office. The party has also demanded the abolition of NAB, which is also part of the Charter of Democracy signed by the PPP and the PML-N in 2006.
The Charter of Democracy stated that NAB would be replaced by an independent accountability commission that would work transparently under parliamentary oversight. The final draft of the amendment will take shape after the parliamentary body completes its review and its report is presented in the National Assembly and Senate.
Senior PPP leader Murtaza Wahab, who was part of the party team negotiating with the PML-N on the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, told that the PPP has demanded the restoration of the original constitutional protections available to the president, governors, prime ministers, chief ministers and ministers under Article 248 of the Constitution, which was unconstitutionally abolished by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
He said that the PPP also wants the remaining and yet unimplemented points of the Charter of Democracy, including the abolition of the NAB to be included in the amendment.
Murtaza Wahab explained that the points on which there has been consensus among the ruling parties have been included in the draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, while the proposals on which there has been no consensus yet, such as the abolition of NAB, are under discussion and have not been rejected.
He said that the PML-N also agrees with the position that NAB should eventually be abolished, as both parties had promised in the Charter of Democracy.
