Gen. Pervez Musharraf, like all his predecessors with dictatorial powers, also took it upon himself to cleanse the country of its “corrupt politicians”. Soon after the military seized power in October 1999 under his command, he created the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – and the mess that many say the nation is suffering to this day.

Since power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the military ruler schemed to prolong his stay as had done Gen Ziaul Haq 22 years before him and the country’s misfortune. But unlike Zia, who enjoyed willing political partners from the very start of his 11-year reign, Musharraf used NAB to rope in ‘rogue’ elements in the PPP and PML-N to his support.

His detractors say NAB-induced horror drove fearful politicians with guilty conscience to group themselves into PPP-Patriot and the PML-Q, and together support Gen Musharraf’s choice of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as the prime minister after the 2002 general elections.

But his skirmishes with the superior judiciary and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 turned the tide against Musharraf and the next general elections went to PPP at the centre and the PML-N in crucial Punjab – the bastion of power. Both joined hands momentarily, forcing Musharraf to resign the president’s office under the threat of impeachment.

Musharraf was gone but NAB, like many other national institutions he had created, stayed. It was not his most vile legacy though, for it had not punished many “corrupt politicians.” That title went to the National Reconciliation Ordinance that he had issued in an agreement with the PPP to clear the Augean stables.

In the new democratic era, the parliament of 2008 adopted its own consensual and seminal 18th Constitutional Amendment. For the fearsome NAB, it decided that NAB chairman be appointed with “meaningful consultations” between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.

That subsequently appeared more a hindrance than consensual framework. However, NAB’s fearsome image remained in the news whenever politics demanded dusting off its files dealing with high-profile corruption cases involving important political personalities.

This week, NAB stirred a storm when it submitted a list of so-called 150 mega cases to the Supreme Court on demand. It hit the ruling PML-N hardest as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, their relative and federal finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar are on the list. Former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Parvez Ashraf of the PPP also figure on the infamous list of the long-pending cases. The PML-N rushed to clarify and clear the names of its leaders.

Information Minister Parvez Rashid, speaking for the prime minister, upbraided NAB for stigmatising politicians. His attack revived the old days when ruling politicians used to accuse NAB of “maligning the government.” He wants NAB to punish instead those who initiated ‘false’ cases against his leadership.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif held a press conference in Lahore to announce that his businesses repaid the last unpaid bank loan in December 2014.

Finance Minister Dar said in a press statement that he is ever ready to appear before any forum, including the Supreme Court, to testify that the charges of money laundering against him were false. He said the Supreme Court had asked for the list of long-pending cases as it was not happy with the progress of NAB.

For Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, the issue is not the number and nature of the cases against politicians, but NAB’s overall functioning. How can a NAB head put there by the ruling and main opposition party by consensus be an independent arbiter, he wonders. But NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry so chosen is duly empowered by the constitution to do so.

“In a public sector as heavily politicised as ours, it is a matter of common sense that politicians will only opt for a candidate who, in their estimate, will not create problems for them in future,” said a federal secretary while talking to Dawn.

In his view, the interesting part of the story is that Mr Chaudhry, as a former secretary interior under the PPP government of prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has been accused of creating hurdles in the investigation of the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scandal and had appeared before the Supreme Court.

Appointments to such positions the world over are carefully made, keeping in mind the nature of the task. In established democracies, bipartisan parliamentary committees are involved in vetting credentials of the candidates, he added.

“I’m not accusing Mr Chaudhry of any bias in his conduct as the NAB chief. But the fact is that he doesn’t enjoy across-the-board approval which makes his job difficult,” remarked a former colleague of Mr Chaudhry in the bureaucracy.

Since its inception, NAB has carried a heavy baggage of playing to the gallery that would be offloaded when it is put under people of known integrity and who can genuinely carry its task of accountability.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2015

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