Interior Minister addressing a press conference at Punjab House. PHOTO: INP
While speculations are rife that the government is considering curtailing powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), key cabinet ministers said on Sunday there were no plans to limit the mandate of the country’s apex corruption watchdog.
This came days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked NAB to stop ‘harassing innocent people or else the government would take action’. The ‘warning’ led the media to speculate that the government was planning to clip NAB’s powers.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan clarified on Sunday that some businessmen had complained to the prime minister that NAB was harassing them. “This was the background of the prime minister’s statement. Otherwise the government has no fear of NAB and nor has it any plans to limit its mandate,” he told a news conference at the Punjab House.
Nisar said the incumbent chairman of NAB [Qamar Zaman Chaudhry] had been appointed with consensus of the government and the opposition. In retrospect, NAB was formed to victimise the PML-N but it could prove nothing against the party during the military rule of Pervez Musharraf or the subsequent PPP regime, he added.
Nisar’s cabinet colleague Pervaiz Rashid also said that the government was not going to clip the wings of NAB; rather a discussion was under way for reforms in the top corruption watchdog. “Reforms will be tabled in parliament as it is the spirit of democracy,” he told journalists on Sunday.
Rashid said it was the government’s responsibility to protect its officials, and the prime minister had voiced reservations keeping that in view. “Even the NAB chairman has admitted procedural problems in the bureau’s system,” he said.
Judicial scrutiny offer
The interior minister also reiterated his offer for a judicial scrutiny of Federal Investigation Agency’s actions in the country. The PPP-led Sindh government, which has serious reservations vis-à-vis FIA raids in the province, asked the Centre on Saturday to constitute a judicial commission for scrutiny of the FIA raids.
The interior minister said the chief justice of Pakistan might be requested to form such a commission. “Retired judges – who are trusted by all – may also be asked for its formation,” he added.
Nisar claimed that during the PPP’s government the FIA was used against political rivals, and inquiries were even conducted against tehsildars in Punjab. “However, we never termed such inquiries ‘an attack on provincial autonomy’. Instead we moved the court to seek justice.”
Likewise, he said, if the Sindh government has reservations on FIA’s inquiries, then it could move the court to prove its viewpoint instead of politicising the issue.
“The FIA has been made a premier investigation agency during my tenure as interior minister,” he said. “I make it clear that the FIA is conducting investigation on merit and no political influence is involved in the process.” Nisar said he was also willing to arrange a briefing for all opposition parties.
Pathankot attack
The interior minister also revealed that some arrests have been made in connection with the January 2 attack on an Indian airbase in Pathankot. “Now investigations will reveal any connection between the names and telephone numbers shared by India with Pakistan.” Nisar advised the media against any guessing game on the issue as the matter was sensitive. The Indian government has agreed to allow Pakistan’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) to visit Pathankot, he added. “India has asked for five-day time for the SIT visit.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2016.
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