Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sirajul Haq strongly condemned on Saturday the government's move to bring an ordinance against plea-bargaining, calling it an insult to parliament. He said in a published statement that if the government really wanted to end the practice of plea-bargaining it would have moved the issue in the National Assembly.

The Jamaat chief said that to decide the issue the government had set up a committee comprising members of the Senate and the National Assembly, but not a single meeting of the committee had been held so far, had now had decided to bring an ordinance overnight.

He said the demand for an end to plea-bargaining had already been made by the Jamaat, which presented three bills on the subject. However, he added, instead of trying to evolve a consensus on the issue, the government had decided to bring an ordinance all of a sudden.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017