Government neither afraid nor annoyed with NAB, says Nisar

Interior minister asks Sindh government to approach judiciary in case of objections against role of FIA, NAB

Days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hit out at the National Accoun­tability Bureau (NAB) for recent raids on government offices, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has said the government was neither afraid nor annoyed by NAB.

While addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, the country’s security czar said the government had no intention to curb the bureau's powers.

The interior minister said the PM had [just] advised NAB not to harass investors and businessmen, who complained to him about intimidation.

Responding to the Sindh government's criticism against the Federal Investigation Agency, Nisar asked the former to "approach the court if there are any objections instead of creating a media trial."

“[The] FIA’s anti-corruption recoveries reached Rs1 billion in 2013 during our rule, when it was only in millions previously,” he said, adding that it showed how the PML-N government had strengthened the federal agency while keeping it devoid of interference.



Nisar said he and his party were ready to face any court trial if any one thought the ruling party had committed mistakes vis-à-vis the FIA, NAB.

“The Sindh government will appreciate if Chaudhry Nisar takes a bold initiative and constitutes a judicial commission [to probe] into FIA’s raids in Sindh,” a provincial government spokesperson had said in a statement issued on Saturday.

Nisar had said he was ready to order a judicial scrutiny of the FIA raids after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari criticised the agency’s graft hunt in Sindh, where his party is in power.



Pathankot attack investigation

Meanwhile, talking about investigation into the Pathankot attack, the interior minister said an FIR was lodged on the basis of mobile numbers provided by India such that a full-fledged investigation could follow.

“We have already sent the request to Indian authorities to allow us sending a Special Investigation Team (SIT), to which they have agreed,” he said.