ISLAMABAD:
Additional Attorney General for Pakistan (AAGP)Khawaja Saeeduz Zafar has excused himself from taking charge as National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) new prosecutor general (PG).
A senior official told The Express Tribune that AAG Zafar had agreed to take the charge one month ago “but now he has excused himself citing personal reasons”. NAB’s incumbent Prosecutor General K K Agha is stepping down next month after completing his three-year constitutional tenure.
Legal experts believe that the appointment of new prosecutor general will be the biggest task for NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry as a number of cases of alleged corruption are pending against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari.
Transparency International (TI) Pakistan has already urged the NAB chairman to ensure that an independent, uncontroversial and non-political prosecutor general of the bureau is appointed “for across the board accountability to curb corruption and ensure zero tolerance against this menace”.
“Now the government has started consultation process to nominate a new lawyer for this post. The role of Attorney General Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt is pivotal to finalise the name for this post because he is close to the prime minister due to his performance in high profile cases in the apex court,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, another senior government official claimed that the government had decided to appoint a non-political NAB prosecutor and had already authorised NAB chairman to recommend three good reputed lawyers for this post to prime minister.
The official also confirmed that the name of former AAGP Tariq Mahmood Khokhar was under consideration for this post and the top brass of NAB had already approached him in this regard.
Khokhar was the head of missing persons’ cell in the AGP office during incumbent government. It was due to his efforts that around 800 persons were tracked down and their family members met them in internment centres.
However, the security establishment was reportedly not happy over his role in the missing persons case and, therefore, he was transferred to Islamabad High Court (IHC).
AG office in Islamabad
The Express Tribune has learnt that the federal government is also considering creating an ‘advocate general office’ for the IHC after the establishment of Islamabad Bar Council (IBC). The IHC is also taking up the case on same issue today (Monday).
The advocate general of each province is the chairman of the bar council of his respective province. After the establishment of the IBC, the government is considering to form an AG office in the capital as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2014.
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