NAB has ‘no reason to exist’, says PML-N

Calls upon corruption watchdog’s chairman to resign

By: News Desk
Published: 10:47 PM, 21 Jul, 2020
NAB has ‘no reason to exist’, says PML-N
Caption: Leading opposition party PML-N has called for NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal's resignation.–File photo
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The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said on Tuesday the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had “no reason to exist” after a Supreme Court judge’s remarks against it and that the NAB chairman should resign.

At a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Party of the PML-N, the party leaders said the incumbent government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had pushed the country to the verge of disaster vis-à-vis governance and international diplomacy and embarrassed Pakistan in the world.

According to a resolution passed by the Joint Parliamentary Party, “The judgement issued by the top court was nothing less than a charge sheet against the NAB as an institution and the head of this institution. It said the NAB must be scrapped and fresh and inclusive legislation must be done to create an institution of accountability in accordance with the true principles of justice, law and the constitution.”

The meeting expressed solidarity with all leaders and workers who have been arrested and jailed by the NAB for “politically-motivated reasons”.

The resolution says, “Politicians are not the only victims of the NAB-Niazi alliance; any dissident who dares to criticise the government is targeted by the government through the NAB, which has become the Imran-led government’s instrument of persecution and political vengeance. The media has been among those on top of its target list -- Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman was victimised, Channel 24 was shut down and Matiullah Jan was kidnapped for same reasons.”

The resolution called for immediate release of senior journalist and anchorperson Matiullah Jan who was kidnapped by armed men in uniform in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The meeting expressed alarm over devaluation of rupee; government’s “mishandling” of the coronavirus pandemic; power loadshedding in Karachi and non-provision of funds to the tribal region after its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It called for a meeting of the Council of Common Interests to discuss sugar, wheat and fuel crises.

The resolution noted that government’s failure to give a relief package to farmers hit by massive losses due to locust attacks and economic fallout of Covid-19 would lead to food crisis in Pakistan.