Govt won’t give NRO-like deal to Opposition: Imran

ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said that the Opposition wanted an NRO-like deal in exchange for its support on the FATF-related legislation but the ruling PTI would not compromise when it comes to the accountability process.

The Opposition parties are working against the interest of the country and wanted to push Pakistan in the black list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the prime minister was quoted as saying this in a meeting by PTI Senator Faisal Javed Khan.  

The PM said that India had also been working for the past many years to get Pakistan included in the black list of FATF, the global anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing watchdog.

PM Khan made these remarks during his meeting with the senators of PTI and its allied parties in the Opposition-dominated Senate in his office. Information Minister Shibli Faraz, Minister for Narcotics Control Azam Khan Swati, Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Leader of the House in the Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem also attended the meeting.  

The legislation to fulfil requirement of FATF is of paramount importance for Pakistan but the Opposition parties are not favouring this legislation for their personal interests and to save their corruption through money laundering, PTI Senator Faisal Javed told The Nation while quoting the PM.

The prime minister said that the Opposition wanted amendments in the NAB law to save their skin and to ensure that they would not face the law in cases of money laundering and corruption. He said that the government had already made extensive negotiations with the Opposition on FATF bills and they would afford to get these bills passed from the joint sitting of the parliament instead of caving in to their pressure, he said adding that the government would not give them any NRO-like deal.

The PM told the participants that Opposition in the parliamentary system used to reprimand the government when it goes against the public interest but the situation is reverse in Pakistan. Here, the Opposition is not supporting the government when the latter is taking some steps in the larger public interest.

The PM emphasized the need for passing the FATF-related laws saying that most states of the world have already done legislation on anti-money laundering. The participants were briefed that FATF has asked Pakistan to ensure legislation to plug loopholes in three areas including money laundering, black economy and terror financing.

Senator Faisal said that the meeting was scheduled for a briefing on the FATF-related legislation in the wake of the Opposition’s move to get the two bills rejected from the Senate. The two bills would not be taken up in the joint sitting of the parliament.

He said that the meeting was briefed that the government has still to introduce more bills related to FATF but the Opposition was not ready to support this legislation.