- Unreserved support to NAB took toll of economy
For over a year one man’s ego made the bureaucracy dysfunctional, the business community hesitant about making investments and the banks left without money. Meanwhile a whole lot of prominent opposition leaders were handed over to NAB, the Pakistani version of the medieval Inquisition. Fears of NAB had gradually grown among the PTI circles also, particularly among those against whom the NAB had conducted initial probes. There were strong pressures therefore on the Prime Minister from within the PTI leadership to change the NAB law.
The new provisions preclude the NAB from taking up graft cases below Rs500 million. The remand period has been drastically reduced from three months to 14 days. Similarly, NAB officials will be barred from issuing public statements before filing references, thus ending the media trial aimed at character assassination of the accused. With regard to procedural lapses in any government project or scheme, no action under the amended ordinance shall be taken against any holder of public office unless it is shown that he has gained any asset or monetary benefit as a result. Instead of the accused providing proof of innocence, NAB will have to provide evidence of guilt.
There are still serious lacunae in the ordinance like determining the value of the accused’s immovable properties either according to the applicable rate prescribed by the district collector or the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), whichever is higher. A property acquired 30 years back for Rs100,000 has now acquired the market value of Rs10 million. It will be unfair to categorise it as an asset disproportionate to an accused person’s worth, as is being done in Rana Sanaullah’s case. Lacunae of the sort can be removed if the new Ordinance is passed as a bill through Parliament. The opposition which has suffered a lot under the previous NAB law is likely to cooperate if the government decides to approach it.
Much more needs to be done to make the wheels of economy run, including uninterrupted supply of gas and power to industry at affordable rates, reduction in the bank rate, stabilisation of the rupee and import of industrial raw material. A single measure will neither raise employment nor reduce poverty.