Pakistan

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

Senate chairman demands commission to monitor NAB progress

Web Desk September 30, 2015

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani addresses a gathering in Karachi on September 30, 2015. PHOTO: PID

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.

COMMENTS (4)

S.R.H. Hashmi | 9 years ago | Reply Speaking at the Federal Udu University in Karachi on September 30, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said that while corrupt politicians have looted the country’s wealth the bureaucracy has also been involved in the same practices. He added “There should be accountability across the board without taking into consideration any sacred or holy cows “ So far so good, and very true indeed. And then Raza Rabbani demanded that a separate committee or commission should be formed to monitor the performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) saying “Who will do the accountability of NAB, which does the accountability of all institutions?” While a casual glance will make one feel that the demand is most appropriate but a deeper look will bring out its impracticability. Now, if a committee or commission has to be formed to monitor the performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), what if people started demanding the formation of yet another committee or commission to monitor the work of the committee or commission formed earlier to monitor the work of the National Accountability Bureau? Just how far would we be prepared to go? Chairman of the NAB is a very important position, more so because only he has the authority to initiate any new case. And in view of this, the all-important position is filled jointly by the Leader of the House in the National Assembly (the prime minister) and the leader of the Opposition through their mutual consultation. And like it happened in the present case, if the two top leaders – the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly took months to find a suitable person to head the NAB, and later there were controversies, the reflection would be more on the appointing authorities and not so much on the performance of the NAB. The real problem is that with both the prime minister and leader of the opposition belonging to parties infested with corrupt leaders at all levels, they naturally prefer to appoint as NAB Chairman a person who is ‘manageable’ and restricts himself to probing some low-level corruption cases, while leaving the higher ups untouched. However, in situations where because of support and encouragement from ‘outside the system’, NAB officials start probing even high-profile cases, some leaders get depressed and distressed, and start thinking of ways to protect their friends and associates. In fact Sindh government has already come up with a brilliant idea: it is planning to have its very own Provincial Accountability commission which will have the sole authority to probe corruption cases in Sindh and even on federal-related issues, the federal agencies will have to seek its permission before they could pursue such cases; which permission would most likely be refused. I suppose this is what they mean when they say that things should be made comfortable all around. Karachi.

Lord of the Ring | 9 years ago | Reply All the advocates and champions of corruption democracy are crying and howling over action against the corruption and their master thieves.

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Rohail | 9 years ago | Reply Message of Zardari from the mouth of Rabbani :). Now we know that PAK Army is doing a super job in Sindh and catching these corrupt politicians. PAK ARMY ZINDABAD.

Abdullah | 9 years ago | Reply These politicians are so greedy and idiot that they even discuss politics in educational institutions.

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