Rabbani lashes out at civil-military bureaucracy over 'corruption'

Senate chairman demands commission to monitor NAB progress

KARACHI: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani accused on Wednesday Pakistan’s civil-military bureaucracy of corruption and called for an across the board accountability.

“There should be accountability across the board without taking into consideration any sacred or holy cows,” Rabbani said, while addressing a gathering at the Federal Urdu University in Karachi.

Read: Article 6 has become redundant: Rabbani

The Senate chairman said while corrupt politicians have looted the country’s wealth the bureaucracy has also been involved in the same practices.

Rabbani demanded that a separate committee or commission should be formed to monitor the performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). “Who will do the accountability of NAB, which does the accountability of all institutions?”

If a politician is tried in a special court then all others should also be tried in the same courts irrespective of their ranks or statuses, he added.

On September 16, a day after expressing his concern over the ‘disconnect’ in civil-military ties, the Senate chairman had turned down a request seeking discussion on statement of a former minister, who claimed that head of a premier intelligence agency had plotted to topple Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government during opposition parties’ marathon sit-ins in Islamabad last year.

Read: Rabbani disallows Senate debate on ex-minister’s claim

Rabbani had disallowed the adjournment motion moved by PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar to discuss former minister for climate change Senator Mushahidullah Khan’s interview with BBC Urdu, quoting rules and precedents. “The government and ISPR [Inter-Services Public Relations] have denied the statement while the minister said he was quoted out of context,” Rabbani had said in his ruling.