ISLAMABAD: Law minister senator, Farogh Naseem, on Friday held a press conference here to clarify that the government was not considering promulgation of an ordinance for extension to Justice (R) Javed Iqbal’s tenure as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman. He, rather, confirmed that prime minister, Imran Khan, was considering a panel of names for appointment of successor of NAB chairman.
Farogh Naseem said the prime minister will take a final decision on the appointment of NAB chairman in due course of time. He ruled out the possibility that the government was mulling an extension in tenure of Justice (R) Javed Iqbal whose term as NAB chairman was going to expire on October 7, 2021.
The Nawaz government had appointed Justice (R) Javed Iqbal as NAB chairman on October 8, 2017. A property tycoon of Pakistan had played a key role in making Justice (R) Javed Iqbal a consensus candidate for NAB chairman post. The Pakistan People Party (PPP) had serious reservations over nomination of Justice (R) Javed Iqbal due to his dubious character. However, the property tycoon, known for his close links with PMLN and PPP top leadership, managed to convince top leadership of PPP that it need not to worry about anything if it clears nomination of Justice (R) Justice Javed Iqbal for NAB chairman slot. The efforts and links of the property tycoon worked and finally PPP agreed to support incumbent chairman for top office of NAB.
Incumbent NAB chairman remained in good books of both PPP and PMLN as long as Nawaz rule existed, but with change of the power, he stared to fix- up both PPP and PMLN top leadership. At the same time, he proved his loyalty to Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) by either closing most of the references against the leaders of the ruling elite or slowed down the cases wherein PTI leaders were accused. .NAB’s inaction in cases against Pervez Khattak and several other PTI leaders literally damaged credibility of the institution beyond repair. It also created an image in the public that NAB was basically meant to trap and fix up the opposition in politically motivated cases rather than having across the board accountability which was needed to curb corruption from the society.
During Javed Iqbal’s tenure, NAB has become the most controversial institution of Pakistan. The opposition is slamming its biased actions and demanding a fair accountability process in the country. The traders community has lost its trust in NAB and it terms it a tool to shy away investment from Pakistan. On legal front, NAB has miserably failed to defend its cases before the court of law. All high profile accused including Khawaja Asif, Asif Ali Zardari , Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shahbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, name any one, have been bailed out by the courts, NAB lawyers have failed to defend high profile cases due to poor investigation. Despite pathetic performance, NAB is issuing stereo type handouts to the media on daily basis to make the people of Pakistan feel as if NAB was doing a great job to weed out corruption from the society.
In the given scenario, PPP and PMLN (Both nominee and seconder of Justice (R) javed Iqbal in 2017) have issued a warning to the PTI government to refrain from granting extension to incumbent NAB chairman. These both major opposition parties have publically announced to go to the court if PTI government extended tenure of incumbent NAB chairman. The question arises as what allures PTI government to grant extension to incumbent NAB chairman.