National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Aftab Sultan has tendered resignation from his post after expressing reservations over curtailment of Bureau's powers under new law, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday, quoting sources.
According to the sources, Aftab Sultan had reservations after the NAB’s powers were trimmed under the amended NAB Act.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has accepted the resignation of Aftab Sultan as NAB chairman, who had forwarded his resignation, as per the sources, a few days ago.
The sources further divulged that the NAB chairman had opted to step down over pressures regarding initiating cases.
In his reaction, Aftab Sultan said he cannot frame cases under political pressures.
He confirmed that he had submitted his resignation a few days back which was accepted. “This was a happy ending for me,” he added.
Aftab Sultan further said that he could not function under the present atmosphere as he had always followed merit and law for his actions.
“I always wanted not to do such a job which brings the institution into bad repute,” he maintained.
The government had appointed former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Aftab Sultan as the new NAB chairman in July 2022, replacing Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal who had relinquished charge as the NAB chief on June 2, 2022.
A notification issued then by the Ministry of Law and Justice stated: "The federal government is pleased to appoint Aftab Sultan, a retired BS-22 officer of Police Service of Pakistan, as chairman NAB after consultation between the leader of the House and the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, for a non-extendable period of three years with effect from the date he assumes the charge of his office."
Profile
Aftab Sultan was a law graduate from Punjab University, who later did LLM from the University of Cambridge and also MSc in jurisprudence/legal studies from the University of Edinburgh.
In 2002, as regional police officer in Sargodha, Sultan refused to assist the administration during the referendum called by then chief executive, retired General Pervez Musharraf. He paid for his defiance when he was made OSD.
He also prepared a 5,000-page report on the directives of the Supreme Court as additional inspector general of police about the famous Bank of Punjab case. The SC had appointed Sultan as the investigation officer after expressing dissatisfaction over the investigations conducted by NAB.
Sultan had retired as the IB head on April 3, 2018 after serving since June 7, 2013.
He served two governments each of the PPP and the PML-N under four prime ministers — Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Reporter Usman Khan