ALTHOUGH accountability is necessary at all levels, in Pakistan it is selective and targeted. Nobody should be above the law and there should be no holy cows. It has been observed, however, that generally members of the opposition are arrested and put behind the bars.

People are arrested first and investigations start later. This takes weeks and even months before the charge-sheet is presented in the court. In most cases, the accused are set free or given bail by the courts owing to weak prosecution or lack of evidence.

We have also seen courts passing adverse remarks against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). No efforts have ever been made to clip NAB’s powers of arrest, nor has any action taken against it for framing references against the accused which are not maintainable in courts.

The alleged looted money by anyone should be brought back to the national coffers. But NAB has failed to recover any amount from the politicians accused of corruption. Shouldn’t it be held responsible for this? Just putting the accused behind the bars is not a solution to the problem.

Let us hope that one day accountability would be enforced in its true sense.

Riaz Bhutta

Lahore

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2020