Fixing Pakistan’s messy anti-graft mission
https://arab.news/ghvcj
Pakistan is on the brink of a messy constitutional crisis with an impasse between the government and the opposition over appointment of a new national anti-graft chief. The appointment of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman cannot happen without mandatory consultations between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, both of whom are bitter political opponents and not on talking terms.
NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, completed his four-year tenure on October 8, 2021. The constitution demands a consensus appointment by the top two political opponents in the National Assembly. Prime Minister Imran Khan refuses to engage with Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif citing conflict of interest for the latter currently being investigated by NAB in various anti-corruption cases.
Sharif rejects the charge saying he is being victimized and is far from being convicted any time soon even if charges against him hold, with NAB struggling to prove him guilty. Legal eagles support this view arguing that if the unproved cases allow him to continue in his office of opposition leader then he must be consulted.
Khan, Sharif acidly points out, is not above board the accusation of conflict of interest either with the prime minister himself currently under suspended investigation for the alleged private use of an official helicopter of his party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government before he came to power in 2018.
What will a reticent Khan do in his obligation of appointing a NAB chief in whose absence the whole department comes to a legal standstill? He is considering extending the tenure – through an amendment in the law – of the controversial Iqbal who is himself accused of moral turpitude after a video of him allegedly cavorting with a woman seeking NAB’s help went viral in 2019.
The opposition has vowed to resist any extension in the services of the NAB chairman saying it is illegal and would make him unfit to continue presiding over an accountability process that is riven by controversy. This includes the NAB focus on opposition party leaders only for investigations in politically motivated cases that have repeatedly been questioned by the courts for poor processing and suspiciously mirrors a list of Khan’s political opponents.
The completion of Iqbal’s tenure has rightfully drawn the spotlight on the very raison d’etre of NAB. It is a deeply controversial institution rooted in its establishment by military dictator General Pervez Musharraf through a military order rather than a political consensus in parliament. Ironically, Musharraf himself has been convicted of treason by the courts.
Implying that NAB chairman cannot be retired because those with powers to appoint a new one are accused of corruption is a bit rich.
Adnan Rehmat
While noble in intent, the NAB charter defeats its stated mission of rooting out mega-scale corruption from the country by exempting the military and judiciary from its ambit of investigations even though generals and judges have held public offices while presiding over unchecked powers and state resources and often been accused of widescale corruption.
Simultaneously, the NAB has brought untold misery for two generations of politicians keeping them in jail and out of politics for years for alleged corruption that has never been proved. Its target has been a veritable who’s who of Pakistan’s illustrious political spectrum including former civilian prime ministers, presidents and chief ministers such as Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, and countless others, repeatedly trusted and elected by the voters.
All this while not a single general or judge who both seized power in coups and validated them and held office for years have been eligible for investigation for abuse of office and alleged corruption. Most politicians have accused NAB of being a “political engineering tool” to eliminate political careers or a means to force political desertions of their aides under duress.
The irony is that former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and opposition leader Khurshid Shah who appointed the current NAB chairman have spent years – including lengthy jail times – defending against Iqbal’s unproved allegations and cases of corruption against them. Implying that he cannot be retired because those with powers to appoint a chairman are accused of corruption is a bit rich.
It is time in Pakistan for a serious debate and conclusion to what kind of accountability – as opposed to the current targeting of political opponents and civilian politicians only – should be done in Pakistan. Corruption is not just financial; it is also abuse of office that allows and exempts officials to rule Pakistan directly and indirectly without scrutiny and with unconstitutional validation.
Accountability should be comprehensive and inclusive. Selected accountability is itself corruption of another kind. If NAB is to continue, then Khan and Sharif must consult, and the consultations should extend beyond appointment of a chairman to accountability reforms with no sacred cows left outside its ambit.
- Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.
Twitter: @adnanrehmat1
