New NAB chief: PTI forwards names of three nominees

A PTI spokesperson says names have been forwarded to the leader of the opposition

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) forwarded on Thursday the names of its three nominees for the post of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman to Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah.

The post will fall vacant on October 10.

The names proposed by PTI included former Intelligence Bureau chief Dr Shoaib Suddle, Justice (retd) Falak Sher, and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary Muhammad Shahzad Arbab Shahzad.

A PTI spokesperson said the names have been forwarded to the leader of the opposition, who is is currently discussing the issue with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Earlier, PTI had rejected all six names – three each proposed by the leader of the opposition and the prime minister – for the post. They accused Shah of not consulting with the PTI before proposing names to the government.



Responding to Pakistan Peoples Party’s claim that it consulted with all opposition groups and contacted the PTI thrice in this regard, PTI’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Shah had not consulted with the PTI even once.

PTI also accused the PPP and PML-N of striking an underhand deal in connection with the appointment of the new NAB chairperson.

Incumbent NAB chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry will retire on October 10 after the completion of his four-year term.

The government had suggested names of Justice (retd) Rehmat Jafri, Justice (retd) Ijaz Chaudhry and Intelligence Bureau Director-General Aftab Sultan, while the leader of the opposition proposed names of Justice (retd) Faqeer Muhammad Khokhar, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal and former secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Ishtiak Ahmad.

The PM and the leader of the opposition had already held a couple of meetings over the nominations. According to the law, last amended in 2016, once the prime minister and the leader of the opposition successfully concluded their consultations, the PM would forward three names to a 12-member parliamentary committee to be formed by the speaker of the National Assembly with equal representation from the treasury and opposition benches to select one of them. However, in case of disagreement between the leaders of the house and the opposition, all six names would be forwarded to the committee.



Dr Suddle is a retired police officer who previously served in several key posts, including inspector general of the Sindh Police, director-general of the Intelligence Bureau, and federal tax ombudsman.

Justice Sher is a retired Supreme Court judge who refused an opportunity to become Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2007 by taking oath on the Provisional Constitutional Order Gen Pervez Musharraf issued after imposing emergency on November 3, 2007. He was later ousted from the SC without any retirement benefits.

In 2009, then-president Asif Ali Zardari restored Justice Sher to his position so that he may draw his salary and other post-retirement benefits.

Interestingly, Arbab, as chief secretary of K-P in 2014, was not afraid to call out PTI's K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on a number of issues.