Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Justice (r) Javed Iqbal on Wednesday assumed command of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as its new chairman.

Justice (r) Iqbal, who is replacing Qamar Zaman Chaudhry as the bureau’s chief, met senior officials, including NAB’s director general (operations) and members of the prosecution wing, during his first day in office.

Giving the officials their first task, the new NAB chief asked for the details of all outstanding cases, references and records.

In a brief conversation with the media, Justice (r) Iqbal said that he would complete his previous assignment as the head of the missing persons’ commission by submitting the report his team had compiled, before giving up his post as the commission’s head.

“I have worked hard on the report and it will be submitted soon,” he said.

When asked about cases against the Sharif family, he said there would be “across-the-board accountability”.

Born in 1936, Justice (r) Iqbal has headed two important commissions; the Abbottabad Commission formed to probe the preludes and causes of the US raid in Abbottabad in 2011 that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, constituted on the Supreme Court’s orders by the Interior Ministry.

The new chairman was chosen on October 8, from among 12 nominees submitted by the government and opposition parties, and the notification came two days before incumbent chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry’s term expired.

Published in Daily Times, October 12^th 2017.