Chief graft buster: The impasse ends

Qamar Zaman Chaudhry named new NAB chairman; opposition leader claims all parties taken on board.

ISLAMABAD:

After four and a half months of dithering, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday found its chief graft buster in Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

Both the ruling and opposition parties had drawn flak over the past few months for delaying the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman’s appointment for as long as they did. Both PML-N and PPP leaders professed their innocence though, attributing the delay more to their overseas political engagements than any deliberate attempt to undermine graft cases.

On Tuesday, however, the impasse broke and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and National Assembly Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah settled on the name of Chaudhry, a veteran bureaucrat, for the historically controversial but important post.

The top office of the bureau was lying vacant since the Supreme Court sent Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari packing in May this year. The apex court also directed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to appoint the NAB chief as soon as possible, warning of ‘consequences’ if it was delayed.

However, the decision faced a protracted hold-up, which had brought the institution to a halt as no new cases could be probed into without the chairman’s approval.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid confirmed the latest understanding between the government and the Leader of the Opposition over the appointment.

Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning, a senior official at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat told The Express Tribune. After accepting his resignation, the premier telephoned Khursheed Shah, who then gave him the go-ahead.

“After retirement, he was considered for the position,” another senior official explained. Zaman also met the prime minister after announcing his retirement.

However, the move was promptly rejected by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which even threatened to challenge Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman’s appointment in court.

Rejecting the nomination of the new NAB chief, PTI spokesperson Dr Shireen Mazari termed it a “mukmuka” (an underhand deal) between the Pakistan Peoples Party and the ruling PML-N. “We don’t accept Qamar Zaman’s nomination who served under former Interior Minister Rehman Malik. We don’t even accept the procedure adopted for his nomination”, she said in a statement. “PTI can challenge his [Qamar Zaman’s] nomination in the court.”

But Khursheed Shah maintained that all parties were taken on board before the decision was taken. “The decision was taken in the national interest,” he said by telephone from Sukkur.

He told reporters in Sukkur that he held “five constructive meetings” with the prime minister for the appointment. Qamar Zaman’s name was proposed by the government. He also consulted with PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Farooq Sattar in this regard, he added.

PTI’s stance in 2009

On December 20, 2009, PTI had protested when Qamar Zaman was suspended by the then Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Zaman was ‘punished’ for barring Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar from leaving for China as his name was put on the Exit Control List following the Supreme Court’s directions.  “The government must end the suspension of an honest officer,” PTI protestors had demanded.

NAB Ordinance

Quoting clause six of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999, former deputy prosecutor general Dr Asghar Rana said the chief shall be appointed by the president in consultation with the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly for a non-extendable period of four years.

He shall not be removed except on the grounds of removal by a judge of the Supreme Court, he added.

“A person shall not be appointed as NAB chairman, unless he is a retired chief justice, Supreme Court judge or a retired high court chief justice. He could be is a retired officer of the armed forces equivalent to the rank of a lieutenant general, or is a retired federal government officer of BPS-22 or equivalent,” he said.

Former NAB chairmen















Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2013.