With too many cases awaiting initiation
After nearly half a dozen consultations spread over four months the prime minister and the leader of the opposition have reached a consensus on who would sit behind the critical chief’s desk at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). In view of the PML-N leadership’s attitude towards appointments to key posts, whether military or civil, the issue might have continued to hang fire if the Supreme Court was not all along been breathing down the government’s neck. Of Ch Qamar Zaman’s seven predecessors, five were either serving or retired armed forces personnel, and of the remaining two a former judge and a bureaucrat. During the consultations preceding the present consensus, no military officer was considered for the job while the names of former judges were shot down by the one side or the other. After Naveed Ahsan the NAB now has a second bureaucrat as its chief.
The NAB chairman, task with uprooting corruption, is required to sort out no ordinary mortals but influential politicians, powerful tycoons and other important figures considered holy cows. Heading the NAB amounts to remaining most of the time in the eye of the storm. The accountability body was created by Musharraf as a tool to persecute the regime’s diehard opponents and reward supporters for their loyalty, though files on their misdeeds were carefully maintained to keep them in line. While the PPP refrained from using the institution to target the opposition, three NAB chiefs were made to leave one after another by the Supreme Court as they were considered to be shielding former President Zardari in the Swiss cases.
Everyone expects the NAB chief to be above the political fray and immune to pressures exerted by powerful quarters. However, what is required is more than personal integrity. The chairman is expected to turn the institution into a proficient agency capable of keeping a track of financial crime and preparing foolproof cases against the perpetrators. With the prime minister and leader of the opposition having agreed on Ch Qamar Zaman the constitutional requirement for the appointment has been fulfilled. The rejection of the nomination by the PTI, the PML-Q and the JI is therefore of little value. The NAB chief’s performance would be judged on the basis of the collective performance of NAB under his leadership. The evaluation will begin from the day he takes oath as important references are overdue, awaiting his induction into the office for initiation. These include four cases against Zardari and three references against the Sharif brothers.