Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) continues with its newfound mission of arresting politicians belonging to the previous regimes. The latest performance of the NAB officials is the arrest of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. By the time he was arrested, everyone was clueless about the ground for his arrest, however, according to media reports, the purported corruption in the LNG (liquefied natural gas) import contract case might be the reason. The arrest warrant issued by NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal says: “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is accused of commission of the offence of corruption and corrupt practices under Section 9(a) of NAB Ordinance 1999 and Schedule therefore I direct his arrest.” The warrant statement is an open-ended statement. The NAB chairman should have stated plausible reasons for the decision. Abbasi’s arrest does not come as a shocking surprise as he himself was predicting this, while the media was also full of reports in recent days that it was the matter of time.

NAB arrested Abbasi without any event, but in Karachi, a NAB team raided the house of another opposition leader Miftah Ismail and was not successful to take him into custody. Again, NAB is not bothered to explain why Ismail’s house was raided and in what case he is wanted. The continuous wave of arrests has muddied the already murky political situation of Pakistan. Every arrest, right or wrong, is being dubbed as political victimisation by the opposition parties. They are right in calling it a political victimisation era because of the way opposition members are being treated. A cursory look at the list of the arrested leaders reveals that all of them were arrested unnecessarily. PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were fully cooperating with NAB investigators, while those arrested in the fake accounts case, months ago, have yet to be framed in any reference. Similarly, Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif and former minister Abdul Aleem Khan were arrested and kept in custody for months but only to be released when the watchdog body found no ground to institute a reference against them. The case of Aleem Khan is a textbook case for NAB has been investigating it since 2009 and still unable to go ahead. The NAB action cost Aleem Khan the ministry portfolio.

NAB’s performance on arrest count is exemplary, whereas the conviction rate is pathetic. For years, it has ruled with outdated regulations and incompetent investigators. This must end now. Pakistan needs an effective, powerful and modern accountability watchdog. The government must step towards the formation of the new body. *