The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani from a hotel in Islamabad. Durrani has been under investigation for accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income and for alleged embezzlement public funds and awarding jobs. However, his arrest is intriguing if not unwarranted. An arrest is necessary when the accused is likely to escape the investigation or not submit the required documentation that can facilitate investigation. After Durrani’s arrest, the Accountability Judge granted NAB three-day transit remand. The PPP understandably is angry. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has termed this as an attempt to convert Pakistan into a dictatorship. In Sindh, an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Durrani’s arrest was termed “illegal.” Sindh cabinet members were also not allowed to enter Durrani’s home and the former CM Qaim Ali Shah questioned as to why NAB was preventing them from meeting speaker’s family. During the past two years NAB’s role has been questioned time and again. It’s historic inefficiencies and alleged political bias have been a subject of public debate. Instead of improving its performance and devising rules whereby it appears as a neutral, capable public body, the NAB perhaps unwittingly is turning into an instrument of political engineering. Last year, PML-N’s Raja Qamarul Islam was picked up for interrogation in the Saaf Pani Company case a day after his candidacy in the last year’s election was announced. He remained in NAB’s custody for several months until the Lahore High Court accepted his bail plea while expressing reservations over the Bureau’s procedures. Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif remained in custody without even a proper case and was only bailed out by the High Court. Recently NAB also arrested PTI’s leader and Senior Minister in the Punjab Aleem Khan. However, the cases against Aleem Khan were pending for a long time and the timing of his arrest remains a riddle. Other than Aleem Khan, NAB has been relatively soft on the ruling party and many of its stalwarts who are facing inquiries. We have highlighted this in the past as well. NAB was created by the unaccountable regime of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s and it worked as a tool against political class. That the post-Musharraf democratic regimes of the two leading national parties in opposition these days failed reform the Bureau was a major blunder of the political leadership. NAB needs serious reform and it’s procedures must be reviewed and amended for fairness and upholding due process. The Parliament needs to actbefore the few remains of a democracy are wiped out. * Published in Daily Times, February 21st 2019.