President has sole powers of appointment, says PM

PM says president has discretionary powers to appoint NAB chairman and chief justice does not need to be consulted.

MURREE: Amid mounting criticism on the appointment of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday that the president has discretionary powers of appointment and the chief justice of Pakistan does not need to be consulted.

Speaking to journalists after addressing a ceremony of the 150th annual day of Lawrence College in Ghora Gali, Gilani said that he met the opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan twice on the advice of the president. The premier added that Khan opposed the names of both Justice (retd) Mukhtar Junejo  and Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah as the NAB chief, adding that he informed the president by providing the ‘dissenting note’ of the opposition leader. The prime minister further said that the opposition could challenge the appointment if it wanted to do so.

“Let some tasks be performed without the chief justice of Pakistan,” Gilani said in a lighter vein. The prime minister added that soon the CJ would get the list of ministers whose names were in the National Reconciliation Ordinance. The prime minister added that the Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has not dictated him on any changes in the cabinet. Earlier in the day, opposition leader from the Pakistan Muslin League-Nawaz, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, disclosed two letters written to the PM on the issue of the the NAB chairman’s appointment, in which he opposed the appointment of Justice (retd) Shahand Mukhtar Junejo as NAB chairman. In the letters, Khan said Shah is a political figure who is “incompetent and inappropriate for this post”.

Khan made reference to the Charter of Democracy, which says that an independent accountability bureau will be established and its chairman will be appointed after consultation with the opposition leader and the parliamentary committee will endorse him.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2010.