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| April 09, 2007 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1428 |
Imran seeks NAB’s abolition, audit
LAHORE, April 8: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) must be abolished and an audit be launched to evaluate NAB’s performance and expenditures incurred by it in the last seven years, says Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan.
At a press conference here on Sunday, he said abolishing a wing of NAB amid a rumoured deal with the PPP only underscored the “political nature” of this institution. The bureau was established for political witch-hunting, and it was still doing the same, he added.
He said during the last seven years, NAB had done nothing but helping President Gen Pervez Musharraf in cobbling together a party (PML-Q) of “political turncoats”. Instead of checking corruption, the bureau had only promoted it, taking the country to a higher position on Transparency International corruption list, he alleged.
He said on the NAB’s strength, the president succeeded in changing three prime ministers in three months as it knocked every one in the PML-Q in line. The sooner such institutions were abolished, the better it was, he added.
The matter, he suggested, should not end with abolishing the NAB. The judiciary must launch an inquiry into its performance, and expenditures it incurred, during those fateful years, Imran demanded.
Talking about the next appearance of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on April 13 before the Supreme Judicial Council, the PTI chief said all political parties should assemble their workers and leaders in front of Supreme Court building to show support for the suspended CJ.
Shrugging off the official criticism of parties for turning a legal and constitutional matter into political one, Imran Khan alleged the government itself was to blame for it as it suspended the CJP for `political’ reasons. He said the CJ had been under a cloud because he was not expected to toe political line of Pervez Musharraf. Had the president been concerned over corruption, he would have removed prime minister and most of his cabinet before touching the chief justice, khan said.
“It is a matter of concern for every Pakistani, and the parties must take it as such,” an emotionally charged Imran Khan said, adding that instead of finding excuses to wean away from each other, the parties must find ways to work together. For the first time after the notorious case of Justice Munir, the nation had got a chance to liberate the judiciary, he said. “It must be grabbed and political parties have prime responsibility in this regard,” he added.
The PTI chief said his party would take Gen Musharraf to court for holding political rallies on state expenditures once the CJP was restored. Answering a question about timing of such a move, he argued that the CJ represented independence of judiciary, and if the party took president to court now, it might turn out to be a futile exercise.
He said the president was also violating his military oath by addressing political rallies.
Former Senator Tariq Chaudhry joined the PTI, and Imran Khan welcomed him on the occasion. —Staff Reporter
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