Verbal slugfest in Senate over NAB

The requisitioned Senate session on Monday witnessed a slugfest between the treasury and opposition benches while debating the performance of the country’s premier graft-buster, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar told the house that no institution could be “destroyed for an individual’s sake” while Faisal Javed of the ruling Pakistan Tereek-e-Insaf (PTI) hit back at the opposition, saying that they only wanted an end to the corruption cases against them.

Akbar took the floor after a hard-hitting speech by Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, who told the house that the graft-buster was “not under the control of anyone”. Mandviwalla said that NAB had to be reined in. “Why shouldn’t there be any accountability of NAB officers?” he asked.

In his speech, Akbar stressed the need for making the accountability laws more effective. However, he added that NAB was established long before the PTI came to power. “We did not create an institution of accountability,” he said.

“The institution of accountability is in place since 1996. Both the previous governments had also enacted legislation regarding the power of accountability,” the adviser on accountability said. “You can’t abolish this institution for your own sake.”

Dilating on NAB’s performance, Akbar said that the bureau had recovered a record Rs389 billion in two years. He added that voices of “influential people are heard everywhere” and they should speak in courts.

The adviser also dispelled allegations of deaths in NAB custody levelled by Mandviwalla. He said 13 deaths had been mentioned, but 11 deaths –of the 13 – had occurred in judicial custody. He also made it clear that Asad Munir was not taken into custody by NAB.

Earlier, Mandviwalla criticised NAB, demanding accountability of the bureau’s investigators. “It is my responsibility to raise voice if anything goes wrong,” he said. “If there are any ‘corrupt elements’ in NAB, they should be found,” he added.

Mandviwalla said that NAB was not under anyone’s control, therefore, it had to be reined in. He demanded that the assets and degrees of NAB officers should also be checked. “Why shouldn’t there be any accountability of NAB officers,” he asked.

The deputy chairman called for finding a solution to the problems faced by the people. “If you want to run the country, you have to remove private transactions from NAB’s purview,” he told the house. He requested the chair to refer the matter to the relevant house committee for deliberations.

Raising the issue of custodial deaths, the deputy chairman, who belongs to the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said that the accused “even wrote letters from jail asking us to get them out of there”. He also mentioned that an officer committed suicide due to NAB.

“Several people have died in NAB custody and we must take this issue seriously. This is not politics,” he told the house. “The prime minister has also said that the business community is worried.”

Speaking in the upper house, PTI leader Faisal Javed criticised the opposition, saying that their movement was meant to get an NRO – the political amnesty granted by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2007 through now-defunct National Reconciliation Ordinance.

“If the prime minister gives them an NRO today, all [anti-government] movements will come to an end,”Javed told the house. “They are stuck in a cul-de-sac. People do not take to the streets to save anyone’s corruption [and] Imran Khan will never give them an NRO.”

At the onset of the session, chaired by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, the lawmakers expressed grief over the killing of colliers in Machh, Balochistan, and the killing of a student by the police in Islamabad three days ago.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan told the house that the culprits behind these incidents would be punished. He added that investigation was going on and the people would be informed about the facts.

Opposition senators, including Sherry Rehman, Sassui Palijo, Behramand Tangi and Javed Abbasi said that there were atrocities being committed against the Hazara community. They demanded of the chair to summon the interior minister to brief the house.

The Senate session was adjourned till Tuesday (today) evening.