After resignation of Chairman NAB actions against opposition accelerated

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summoned former Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to the Rawalpindi office on March 9 to investigate the Tosha Khana case. NAB Islamabad has sent notices to Imran Khan at his Bani Gala and Chak Shehzad homes in Islamabad, accusing him of illegally selling gifts received during his tenure. He has also been asked to ensure his attendance at the NAB office. Similarly, former Foreign Minister and PTI Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also been summoned by NAB on March 8, while NAB has also questioned the in-charge of Tosha Khana. According to media reports, PTI leaders Pervez Khattak and Fawad Chaudhary have also been summoned in the same case on March 7 and 8 respectively. It is worth mentioning here that on Tuesday NAB Chairman Aftab Sultan resigned from his position which was accepted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Summons notices were sent by NAB. Chairman NAB claimed in his farewell address after resigning that he was being pressured to release someone's brother and arrest someone, but he did not accept interference, he cannot file a false case against anyone. He has not bowed down to any pressure during his professional career and has tried to act according to the law. He never compromised on principles.

Immediately after the resignation of Chairman NAB, the issuing of summons notices by NAB against Imran Khan and his associates in the Tosha Khana case, in hindsight, shows that legal and judicial proceedings have not been initiated against Imran Khan in the Tosha Khana case. It is possible that there are other cases regarding which Chairman NAB has faced some pressure. After resigning, he should reveal the facts in which case he was under pressure from whom so that there is no ambiguity in his claim. Prime Minister's Special Assistant Qamar-ul-Zaman Kaira has also demanded the same from the resigned Chairman NAB, while Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq said the resignation of Chairman NAB has raised many questions. Of course, many questions have also arisen due to NAB's action against the PTI leadership immediately after the resignation of Chairman NAB, but the real question is still stuck in the minds of the nation that for the creation of a corruption free society. ?Before 2018, the general impression regarding the accountability institution had been established that every government appoints one of its puppets as the chairman in this institution and uses it for revenge against its opponents. In the past periods of PPP and Muslim League (N) government, many such examples were also brought up, on which the leaders of these parties were suspicious of each other and then in this context, during the PPP government, the 2018 assembly was unanimously approved. In the 18th constitutional amendment, the provision of making the NAB institution independent was also approved so that the Chairman NAB can fulfill the requirements of accountability free from any pressure including government pressure. For this, the legal procedure for the appointment of Chairman NAB was completely changed and it was decided to carry out this appointment with the mutual consultation of the Prime Minister and the opposition leader from the discretionary authority of this appointment.

If according to the spirit of the 18th constitutional amendment, it was intended to make the institution of accountability completely independent then perhaps it would not be the turn of Aftab Sultan to resign from the position of Chairman NAB. Since our political culture has been nurtured under the concept of suppressing the opposition by adopting every tactic and walling it up and not allowing any voice to be raised against the arbitrariness of those in power, therefore, under the 18th constitutional amendment. NAB not only the leaderships of the PPP and Muslim League (N) which made it independent, the PTI leadership also did not accept the complete independence of NAB and during the PTI regime, Chairman NAB Justice (R) Javed Iqbal was subjected to various tactics. Through blackmail, they were put on the path of speeding up actions against the opposition, which brought back the previous concept of NAB that this institution is the effective weapon of the rulers to suppress the government opponents. During the PTI period, in the same context, where the NAB chairman was blackmailed, some amendments were made in the NAB law by the parliament and a strategy was adopted to cut him off. This made the institution of NAB harmless to the ruling classes because the government officials against whom NAB cases were registered were taken out of the jurisdiction of NAB through the new laws. The same thing has been done later by the opposition coalition parties of PTI during their rule, who took advantage of the absence of PTI members in the National Assembly.