ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday said the federal government was neither angry with nor afraid of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
“This institution was created by former dictator General Pervez Musharraf to target PML-N and the previous PPP government too used it against PML-N but if the bureau could not bring anything against my party in those years, how can they do it today,” Nisar told a press conference.
Talking about the context of prime minister’s statement about the NAB, he said some businessmen had complained to him that the bureau was harassing them. One of the businessmen, he said, stated that he was facing injustice at the hands of NAB. “Neither the government is afraid nor it will clip the wings of NAB,” he assured. Nisar said for the first time during the tenure of present government the NAB chairman was appointed in consensus with the opposition. Earlier the NAB chairmen were appointed by Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari on their own, he recalled. “During the PPP government, I went to the Supreme Court to get the NAB chairman appointed but nothing was done.”
To a question, the minister said no restriction would be imposed on institutions like NAB which were working to ensure transparency. He said NAB chairman was an experienced and responsible person and he would take up matters of old cases and take steps to keep his organisation effective and vibrant.
The minister said he was ready for formation of a judicial commission and legal scrutiny of all cases investigated by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the last two and a half years. He was reiterating his call for formation of commission in response to the statement directed towards the prime minister by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari about the working of the FIA. Nisar said the Supreme Court or retired judges on whom all the parties had consensus could be requested for a commission. Opposition parties could suggest names of judges who were acceptable for all, he added.
He said if the PPP had reservations about the investigation of cases then he was ready for a briefing by the FIA director general to the leaders of political parties. The mega scams were a serious matter and not pursuing them was a national crime as billions of rupees had been looted, he stressed.
He said the PPP was complaining about a small case of raid on the office of Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). “They can approach judiciary if have any objections. A judicial commission is made for big issues and not for a single case,” he added.
The PPP, he said, should avoid giving political statements and stop media trial about the FIA cases. The minister said the FIA was made a joke during the tenure of previous governments. Actions were taken in the provinces but they had never said that Punjab or the provincial autonomy was under attack. The Supreme Court had continued to pursue the FIA due to its lack of performance during the last government, he noted.
He said the PPP government made money from Hajj revenues. “All corruption scandals involving EOBI, PSO, ETPB, TDAP, new Islamabad airport and PIA emerged during the PPP regime. FIA played an impartial role in investigating these scandals without any political influence,” he said. Nisar said PML-N government did not intervene or used political influence in these mega cases, adding that Pakistan was the only Islamic country in which corruption was even done in Hajj affairs.
Responding to a question, he said his offer for a judicial commission is not conditional to the return of Asif Ali Zardari from abroad. Nisar said a special investigation team would visit India soon in connection with Pathankot incident.
India has already accepted the request of Foreign Ministry in this regard, he said, adding India has conveyed that it should be informed five days prior to the visit of the investigation team.
