September 18, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 20, 1424

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LAHORE, Sept 17: The NAB has not been able to find a well-reputed lawyer having no political affiliation for the post of prosecutor-general (PG) since the retirement of Naveed Rasool Mirza in June.

The authorities are quite firm on their policy of hiring a “non-political” lawyer for the post — especially in the current political setup — in order to ensure impartial investigation of corruption references against politicians, bureaucrats and other holders of public offices, said NAB sources.

Since the resignation of the last regular PG for personal reasons, Mohammad Afzal, a former accountability court judge, has been acting as the PG.

As claimed by the insiders, the acting PG does not hold a licence of the Supreme Court and by virtue of this impediment, the NAB has lost its PG’s presence in the Supreme Court and is currently being represented by a panel of relatively inexperienced lawyers.

The PG is regarded as a key post in the NAB setup, as the man on it has a direct liaison with the NAB chairman for discussing policy matters and forwarding references to the latter for final approval. He also represents the NAB in the SC on petitions assailing the provisions of NAB Ordinance and the subsequent amendments to it.

“The authorities concerned have already sustained enormous pressure for appointment of lawyers, who approach them through political channels. All such candidates have been rejected,” a NAB official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn on Wednesday.

When asked whether the NAB would again hire a retired or even a serving armyman for the slot as it did in the cases of Farooq Adam and Naveed Rasool Mirza, the official expressed his inability to make predictions but said that all depended on the available options.

A considerable reduction in PG’s remuneration by the NAB authorities on the directions of SC is being cited as another reason for making the post less attractive to well-reputed lawyers, who don’t find it feasible to work on a monthly package of around Rs150,000.

Besides, the recently-imposed ban on private practice of the PG has also kept the established lawyers away, the sources added. Previously, all three PGs were allowed to carry on with their private practice parallel to their NAB engagements. The post of deputy prosecutor-general, filled last month, had also remained vacant for eight months due to this condition.