The federal government has appointed retired Lt. Gen. Nazir Ahmed Butt to be the chairman of Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for a period of three years. As a result of consultations between Shehbaz Sharif and Raja Riaz, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, the decision has been made.
The appointment was made in accordance with Section 6 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, as amended, claims the Prime Minister’s Office. Through a circulation summary, the federal cabinet’s approval for the appointment of the new NAB chief was requested.
After Aftab Sultan, the former head of the NAB, left the influential position last month, the position of NAB chairman became vacant. Days after rumours surfaced that Sultan wanted to resign as head of the NAB because of pressure to take “unacceptable” actions, Sultan’s resignation was accepted. Sultan gave “interference” and “pressure” as his reasons for leaving, but he did not say who was exerting the pressure.
The new accountability czar was chosen after meetings between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and various leaders, including Asif Ali Zardari, the president of the Pakistan Peoples Party, General Syed Asim Munir, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has demanded that a new leader of the opposition in the lower house of parliament from his party be announced before the choice of the new NAB chief, which is why the Prime Minister met with Raja Riaz, a disgruntled leader of the PTI.
The Lahore High Court has suspended the notification through which several PTI lawmakers’ resignations were accepted by the NA Speaker, so Fawad Chaudhry, the senior vice president of the PTI, rejected the appointment, claiming that the selection of the NAB chief has become contentious.
Fawad continued by stating that the PTI has already chosen Shah Mahmood Qureshi to lead the opposition and that the legality of the opposition and government’s consultation process was at issue.
According to media reports, Lt. Gen. Nazir Ahmed Butt is a graduate of the 67th PMA Long Course who served as the commander of the Peshawar Corps, made significant contributions to the fight against terrorism, and held significant positions at the GHQ.
Additionally, as a Major General, Gen. Butt oversaw a division in South Waziristan. Three prime ministers, including Shaukat Aziz and Muhammad Mian Soomro, used him as their military secretary. He also held the positions of Commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul and Defense Attaché in Washington. Gen. Butt is the brother of a retired army colonel and the son of a colonel.
Politicians claim that corruption in Pakistan has risen over the past 20 years despite the existence of the graft-buster. They pointed out that Pakistan’s democracy still suffers from a lack of accountability and meaningful accountability and said it was time to implement a system of universal accountability.
