Amending NAB

There has been much talk about amending the NAB Ordinance. The latest is that PML-Q leaders have filed three petitions in the Lahore High Court seeking a direction to NAB to set aside authorization of inquiries initiated by it 20 years ago. It has been NAB’s practice lately to initiate or reopen cases and investigations about matters pertaining to decades old deals, even if they do not fall under the NAB jurisdiction. Now a draft amendment is reported to be ready which stipulates that matters related to taxes and duties will not be under the bureau. It has also been reported that according to the proposed amendment the cases handled by the federal and provincial regulatory bodies will also be spared the NAB sword. The amendment also proposes that all inquiries and investigations related to the taxes and duties that are being pursued by the bureau will be handed over to the relevant bodies after the amendment has been passed.

All of this sounds good but another proposal is to remove the federal cabinet from NAB jurisdiction. If that is correct, then will it apply to the current cabinet or all the cabinets that served in the past? There has been increasing sentiment that NAB has become a tool for persecution to target the opposition and all those who challenge or disagree with the government or try to highlight corruption in the government or highhandedness of NAB itself. This has done and is doing tremendous harm to this country and its democratic institutions and independent media. NAB should be responsible only at the federal level with matters of national importance. By now NAB has stretched itself too far, looking into small-scale private property deals and that too at the district level. This overstretch must be curtailed and the wings must be clipped before it becomes a monster to devour all opponents, which to some degree it has already done.

Any new amendment in the NAB law must be enacted after due deliberations with the government and other stakeholders. If NAB has to survive in its present shape it must be bound to act in accordance with laws and must not violate its own SOPs, as it has been doing lately. There must be some mechanism to remove or at least reduce the arbitrary powers of the chairman of NAB. In a democratic system, you can’t have autonomous bodies that practically become authoritarian and flout laws at their will. If the new amendment is able to put the house of NAB in order that will be a great service not only to democracy in this country but also to all those who have been unlawfully victimized without an iota of proof against them.