LAHORE: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Sunday the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was the “most corrupt institution in the country which is used to make turncoats.”

The PML-N senior vice president also questioned why the NAB laws did not apply to the judiciary, army, bureaucracy and businessmen but only politicians. He was a keynote speaker at the Asma Jahangir Conference’s session ‘Right to dissent – the laws of accountability’ here on Sunday. Veteran journalist Rashid Rehman moderated the session.

Mr Abbasi spoke at length on NAB’s performance, trial of politicians (by it), flaws in its laws and its functioning with regard to selective accountability.

“I want to ask why the NAB laws do not apply to the judiciary, army, bureaucracy and businessmen but only politicians. Subsequently, politicians’ media trials are held based on NAB action. The NAB chairman should tell how much recovery has been made from politicians and how many of them have been convicted since its inception 21 years ago. Only one politician (Nawaz Sharif) has been convicted in 21 years of NAB’s accountability,” he deplored.

“NAB is the most corrupt institution in the country. It is an institution of political engineering. It is used to make turncoats. Some 80 per cent politicians never have the power to spend public money. Will someone tell how the NAB applies to them?” he asked and also spoke about the modus operandi of the anti-graft body.

“NAB first declares you (a suspect) guilty… and then you have to prove your innocence. Does anybody care about such people who face NAB’s allegations and what their families go through meanwhile?” he asked.

Mr Abbasi reminded NAB that ‘according to the law one has to maintain a financial record (of business transactions) for seven years but it seeks the record of 35 years (from a suspect). “I am all for accountability but NAB is not for accountability but for political engineering, selective accountability and (political) victimisation. Those who impose taxes on the people of Pakistan should first give details of their own assets be answerable for their own lifestyles. Let us start with the president of Pakistan followed by the prime minister and the opposition leader,” he proposed, saying politicians went through an accountability process every five years in the form of a ballot.

The PML-N leader further said there were flaws in the NAB laws which should be amended through consensus. “When the opposition presents amendments to the NAB laws, the government makes noises about NRO,” he lambasted.

As for an amendment he proposed on appointing judges, Mr Abbasi said: “Anyone aspiring to become a judge should present his tax record of the past 10 years. Those (aspiring judges) who are unable to do so are either not technically qualified or have hidden their income… you see they have to judge us tomorrow.”

PTI Senator Ali Zafar focused on ‘kleptocracy’ (a reference to the Pakistani elite who stay in power through their wealth). “The biggest threat to our country is from kleptocrats. It is a cancer to our democracy. We need to fight this monster as kleptocrats propagate that the accountability is flawed… based on victimisation,” Mr Zafar said.

The PTI leader also talked about the ‘revolving door of politics’ in Pakistan in the1990s when Nawaz Sharif replaced Benazir Bhutto and vice versa. He said how Nawaz established Ehtesab Bureau to institute cases against the PPP leaders and subsequently both parties decided not to address

lacunae in NAB Ordinance (introduced by the Musharraf regime in 1999). “The PTI inherited these lacunae but let NAB touch kleptocrats,” he said.“NAB has structural flaws…it needs to separate investigation and prosecution departments,” he said and pledged the government would continue its accountability process.

PPP senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said no society could evolve only through making laws. “No law is more powerful than public opinion. The country needs to be run through the constitution and clarity,” he said.

Supreme Court’s Advocate Haider Rasul Mirza and Sindh High Court Bar Association president Salahuddin Ahmed also pinpointed flaws in NAB laws and suggested how to regulate the institution.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2021