ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, retired justice Javed Iqbal, has great respect for parliamentarians and is ready to have a meeting with the National Assembly members belonging to the opposition parties, which have expressed reservations over the ongoing accountability process, said a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday.

A meeting between the NAB chairman and opposition party leaders was “expected” soon after his return to Islamabad from Lahore where he had gone in connection with some official engagements, added the spokesperson.

The statement was issued by the NAB spokesman in response to a letter sent to the NAB chairman by lawmakers of the National Assembly belonging to the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA). The letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, also carries the signature of the chief of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who is sits on the treasury benches.

In a letter that also carries signature of a ruling coalition partner, lawmakers belonging to PML-N, PPP and MMA complain of harassment, victimisation

The letter has been signed by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah Khan of the PML-N; Syed Naveed Qamar and Shazia Marri of the PPP and Asad Mehmood and Shahida Akhtar Ali of the MMA.

Through the letter, the members have drawn the NAB chairman’s attention towards “harassment and victimisation” of the opposition by the bureau. It stated: “These arbitrary, unjustified and unprecedented actions of NAB only serve to undermine the process of democracy in Pakistan.”

The lawmakers wrote the opposition parties in the parliament believed that no individual was above the law and fully supported accountability in the country, and considered it necessary to protect the interests of the people of Pakistan. However, it said, “When accountability becomes irrational, selective and biased, and is used for persecution and oppression of only the members of the opposition, then it becomes a threat to the sovereignty and supremacy of parliament.”

“Unfortunately, the recent actions of NAB and the public statements of its officials raise serious concerns about the impartiality, transparency and intentions behind the process of accountability,” read the letter, adding: “It is critical that the application of the process of accountability conforms to the tenets of Islam, the Constitution and laws of Pakistan, the concept of natural justice, and the dignity of human rights.”

Through the letter, the lawmakers sought an appointment with the NAB chief, asking him to provide them an “opportunity to apprise him of this grave and urgent situation”.

Since last year disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case and his conviction by an accountability court in Avenfield reference, the opposition parties have been pointing the finger at NAB for ‘victimisation’. However, since the arrest of PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif in Aashiyana housing scam in October, the opposition have adopted an aggressive posture against the bureau. The opposition parties have twice requisitioned the NA session with the agenda of seeking discussions on “use of NAB as a tool for political coercion” since then.

Mr Shahbaz, who has been attending the NA sessions after issuance of his production order by Speaker Asad Qaiser, in his speeches on the floor of the house had disclosed the questions being put to him by the NAB investigators and alleged that there was an unholy alliance between the accountability bureau and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

He also sought an explanation from the NAB chairman over his recent meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said when Mr Khan, too, was facing NAB inquiries in several cases in what capacity the NAB chairman met the premier. Mr Sharif argued that if the NAB chairman had met Mr Khan for being a suspect in cases, then the former should also come to meet him in jail. And if he had met the prime minister for being the leader of the house, then he should also have met him as he was leader of the opposition, Mr Shahbaz added.

The opposition leader had alleged that he was being kept in a 10x10-foot cell and the NAB investigators were asking him questions about the companies he had set up in Punjab as the chief minister.

Besides Mr Sharif, two former prime ministers Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Raja Pervez Ashraf had also criticised NAB on the floor of the house. Mr Abbasi had questioned as to why NAB was not arresting those in the ruling coalition who were facing inquiries like the opposition leaders.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2018