- Need to revisit and amend the law
Despite an out-of-control chaotic situation caused by the covid-19 pandemic that is gaining steam with each passing day, the government continues to invest its time in, and divert resources towards, an accountability process that is neither fair nor transparent, is opposition-specific and has so far failed to produce any meaningful convictions. During the first few weeks of the lockdown, the focus had somewhat shifted to the more critical matter of dealing with a lethal virus. That did not last long and now the government’s accountability czar Shehzad Akbar and NAB have come out all guns blazing against opposition leaders. Mr Akbar held a press conference earlier in the week, in which he made the same bold claims that he has so many times before, that he was finally in the possession of irrefutable evidence proving how PML (N) President Shehbaz Sharif had laundered billions of rupees over the years through benami accounts. Earlier, Mr Sharif had reluctantly appeared before NAB for questioning in another case against him. Similarly, PML(N) Senior Vice-President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who has already spent over 200 days in jail, 77 of which were in NAB custody for the ‘LNG scam’ case, and was able to secure bail from IHC, was again summoned yesterday for more questioning. If NAB’s prosecution was unable to produce credible evidence from questioning Mr Abbasi for over two months under detention then it seems unlikely it will be able to get any useful information now. If the idea is to create a crime out of thin air, NAB has and will continue to fail at that.
On the flip side, PTI’s allies are also feeling the heat. The Chaudhry cousins of the PML(Q) got wind of the reopening of a 19-year-old NAB inquiry against them and have since been knocking on the doors of the higher judiciary and the PM Office for reprieve. Meanwhile, federal minister Khusro Bakhtiyar and his younger brother, Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, face an ‘assets beyond means’ case that was originally filed in Multan before the 2018 general elections. The case was conveniently transferred to Lahore by the NAB chairman soon after PTI formed a government. Arrests are non-existent and summons, rare, when it comes to favorites of the ruling party.
An ordinance that was passed to clip NAB’s wings, restricting it from going after bureaucrats and businessmen, has lapsed and will now have to be amended through an act of Parliament. It is a good opportunity for both sides of the aisle to rationalize this draconian law and make it more effective in curbing actual corruption.
