NAB Lahore DG moves IHC against PAC summons in sexual harassment case

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore DG Major (r) Shehzad Saleem on Wednesday filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the summons issued to him by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly (NA) to answer the sexual harassment charges levelled against him as well as ex-NAB chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal by a woman named Tayyaba Gul, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.     

Naming the National Assembly (NA) secretary, Public Accounts Committee and others as respondents in the petition, the petitioner prayed to the court to declare the notice issued to him null and void. 

In the petition, DG NAB argued that by summoning him, the PAC had gone beyond its powers.   

He further stated that the woman’s petitions were already sub judice at an accountability court in Lahore and the Federal Shariat Court. “And as long as Tayyaba’s petitions are pending in the courts, it is prayed to the court to grant me stay in the case,” he requested. 

Truth of the matter, the DG went on to add, was that the woman had filed a petition in the PAC with a mala fide intent. “It cannot be ruled out either that the committee chairman member of the National Assembly (MNA) Noor Alam Khan might have himself asked the woman to file the complaint against me and the ex-NAB chairman only for his own vested interest because he is already facing an inquiry by the bureau,” read the petition. 

And when, the petitioner added, relevant forums already existed to Tayyaba for the redressal of her complaint, initiation of an inquiry by the PAC was not justified.   

“Such is the conduct of the committee chairman that he keeps bragging about that he was not loyal to the party on whose ticket he was elected as MNA,” the petition concluded. 

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani