LAHORE, July 18: As two days are left to meet a Supreme Court’s deadline to appoint the National Accountability Bureau head, the Pakistan People’s Party government has yet to forward any nomination to the opposition leader for consultation to develop a consensus on the issue.
Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari, told Dawn that the government would follow the instruction of the Supreme Court on the appointment of NAB chairman. He said the government was considering a few names for the slot.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) says that the federal government has not forwarded any names for new NAB chairman to Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for consultation.
“At present Chaudhry Nisar is in London. Two days ago I spoke to him but he had not received any nomination (for the slot) from the government,” PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn. He said the government was bound to consult the opposition over the issue and in case of violation the opposition reserved the right to challenge the ‘unilateral’ decision.
Justice Sardar Raza Khan (retired) is a strong candidate for the office. The name of Justice Fakir Muhammad Khokhar (retired)is also doing the round.
A three-member Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Khilji Arif Husain and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, on June 21 gave a month’s deadline to the federal government to fill the vacant posts of NAB chairman and accountability prosecutor general while disposing of a petition by Al-Jehad Trust. The petitioner challenged the appointment of NAB deputy chairman Javed Zia Qazi seeking direction to restrain him from exercising the delegated power of the chairman.
The bench said the court had intentionally avoided ordering the closing down of NAB or restraining its deputy chairman from functioning as acting chairman since this would affect the functioning of the accountability courts, inquiries and investigations pending in the bureau.
“If the government failed to fill both vacant posts in one month, the deputy chairman would automatically be barred from exercising the delegated powers of chairman and the bureau would become non-functional,” the bench observed.
NAB since the removal of its chairman, Justice Deedar Husain Shah (retired), four months ago has neither arranged any voluntary return and plea bargain nor filed reference of any mega scam.
“The accountability process has come to a grinding halt since the departure of Mr Shah,” said a NAB official. “Besides, no arrest of any official above BS-19 had been made during the period. The matters like voluntary return, plea bargain, reference (mega financial scams) and arrest require the NAB chief’s approval.”
The Supreme Court had removed Mr Shah from the post on a petition by Mr Nisar in which he submitted that he was not consulted on NAB chief’s appointment. Under the law the government is bound to appoint a NAB chairman in consultation with the opposition leader.
Former law minister Babar Awan made a remark after the removal of Mr Shah that the NAB chairman office should not be vacant “even for a day”. Pakistan is a signatory to the United Nation's Convention against corruption and NAB has been officially designated as the apex national anti-corruption body which follows the three best international principles -- awareness, prevention and enforcement.