ISLAMABAD: Less than an hour before it completed its full five-year term, the government formed a commission Saturday to probe allegations of “persistent interference by outside institutions” into the workings of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

According to a notification issued late Saturday by the Law and Justice Division, signed by senior joint secretary Sohail Qadeer Siddiqui, a two-member commission comprising former Supreme Court judges Mukhtar Junejo and Nawaz Abbasi has been formed to look into the matter and submit a report in the next few weeks.

The commission will start its probe from within one week of the issuance of the notification, and will submit its report in four weeks.

The terms of reference of the commission, listed in the notification, are to examine “whether any outside institution or any individual in such institution other than NAB can act as investigator directly or indirectly in cases under the NAB ordinance, 1999”, whether it/he can “override provisions of the NAB ordinance...by assuming/arrogating powers of the Chairman”, or whether it/he “has overstepped their jurisdiction in violation of clause (2) of Article 175” of the Constitution.

Although the notification, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, does not name any government institution, it is believed the commission will be investigating allegations against the Supreme Court contained in a letter written by Bokhari.

In a hard-hitting letter addressed to his appointing authority, the president, Admiral (retd) Bokhari had cast serious doubts over the role of the apex court which he said “could be seen as pre-poll rigging”.

The letter, dated Jan 27, was dispatched from the chairman’s home address in Chak Shahzad Farms, Park Road, and later released to the media.

Bokhari directly accused members of the superior judiciary of trying to influence the outcome of the coming general election.

—Reporting by Abdul Shakoor Khan.