ISLAMABAD: There is no greater threat to the government than the conduct of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that has now become the reason for yet another death- Brig (R) Asad Munir.The government, which gets amused whenever any opposition leader is arrested or gets into NAB’s radar, needs to realise that the Bureau is hurting it in different ways some of which the regime itself realises but yet does nothing.Firstly, the NAB’s actions against member of the bureaucracy, including Brig (R) Munir, who committed suicide after being allegedly hounded and harassed by the Bureau, have made the civil servants indecisive and inactive. Formerly member estate CDA Munir’s suicide reason with further discourage and disappoint the member of the civil bureaucracy.Secondly, the NAB has opened alleged corruption file against almost every important businessmen, including those who are widely reputed or even some who are being decorated with state awards by the PTI government on 23rd March. In such an environment where local businessmen are being followed by NAB and are under constant threat for years to face jail, how could anyone be interested to do business in Pakistan?Thirdly, NAB is focused on making cases and arresting opposition voices without having tangible evidence in many cases against those arrested as has been the case of Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif. It raises political temperature and increase bickering between the government and the opposition. For the same reason, some of the opposition political parties are now considering to launch street movement against the government.How in such an environment where bureaucracy is shy to work, businessmen feel insecure and rising political temperatures are heading towards political instability, the government can deliver! No matter how sincere the government is in addressing the challenges, particularly, relating to the economy and governance related, it needs active bureaucracy, confident businessmen and a supportive parliament.Not that the government does not know this. The bureaucracy has already conveyed to political high-ups about its fears vis-a-vis NAB and so did the top businessmen of the country. The high-ups in the government though enjoy what the NAB is doing with the opposition, they have recently expressed their displeasure of what the NAB KP chapter was doing.Following the displeasure, not only the powers of regional DGs to arrest have been withdrawn but the DG Peshawar was also replaced. The Peshawar NAB is primarily dealing with most of the cases involving PTI leaders and key bureaucrats. Not that what Peshawar NAB was doing right but what raises many eyebrows that why other DGs, particularly, the one heading Bureau’s Lahore chapter have not been changed despite recent Lahore NAB’s ‘indictment’ by the Lahore High Court in at least three of its references.An educationist, Mian Javed, arrested by Lahore NAB on Oct 9 last year had died in Bureau’s custody. Pictures of his dead body show him handcuffed even after his death. He was one of many accused of NAB who has been arrested during the course of inquiry. His reputation was destroyed on the basis of mere allegation widely publicised by NAB through media. There was no reference filed against the poor man, but he was humiliated even after his death.Before that, a Bahawalnagar district accounts officer who was arrested by NAB in June last year on the flimsy charges of “poor supervision” when salaries of ghost educators were paid, had also died in custody. He had applied for bail on health ground, which was rejected.And now retired brigadier and former member estate, CDA, Asad Munir chose to take his own life to what he had written in his suicide note “to avoid humiliation, being handcuffed and paraded in front of the media”.In his suicide note, addressed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, he pleaded his innocence and requested “to take notice of NAB’s officials conduct so that other government officials are not convicted for the crimes they had no committed”.He ended his note by hoping, “I am giving my life in the hope that you the honorable chief justice will bring positive changes in the system where incompetent people are playing with the life and honour of citizen in the name of accountability.”Unfortunately, the Supreme Court and high courts have also been expressing their disappointment over NAB performance and how it plays with the dignity and honour of others but even the judiciary did not reform the Bureau to check its accesses. How many more deaths we will witness before we see an end to the licence to kill given to NAB?
from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2FhLj7n
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