Seven months into job, NAB chief resigns

ISLAMABAD: Refusing to toe the line, Aftab Sultan has resigned as National Accountability Bureau chairman after seven months of his appointment.

Later, he relinquished the charge of office following the acceptance of his resignation by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“I have decided to resign as chairman and am extremely happy and satisfied that I was able to uphold my principles and not bowed to any pressure,” said Aftab Sultan while addressing a farewell address to the NAB officers on Tuesday.

Aftab said he could not initiate a false case against anyone nor could drop an established reference against someone merely on the grounds that the accused was a relative of some big shot.

He said throughout his life and professional career he tried to act according to the law and never compromised on his principles. “Our Constitution provided solutions to all our problems,” he said.

He said not following the Constitution had resulted in the political and economic mess “we find ourselves in today”.

He said continuity of the political process and elections was essential.

Aftab said he had complete faith in the young officers of NAB to uphold the principles of high moral values and the rule of law.

Following Aftab Sultan relinquishing the charge of the office of NAB chairman, Deputy Chairman Zahir Shah would resume charge of the Bureau’s acting chairman to look into day-to-day affairs till the appointment of a new chairman. The process of consultation between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Raja Riaz is expected to start soon.

It is to be mentioned that reports of the resignation of Aftab Sultan were aired a few days back but confirmation was made on Tuesday after the acceptance of the resignation and farewell address of the outgoing chairman to the NAB officers at the Bureau’s headquarters in Islamabad.

Aftab Sultan, former Intelligence Bureau director general, was appointed NAB chairman in place of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal for three years on July 21, 2022.

Earlier, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office with regard to the acceptance of the resignation of Aftab sultan stated that Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday accepted the resignation of NAB Chairman Aftab Sultan.

The NAB chairman presented the resignation presented to the prime minister citing personal reasons, here at the PM House.

The prime minister appreciated the services of Aftab Sultan and lauded his honesty and uprightness.

News Desk adds: Speaking to Geo News, Aftab said that he had resigned from the office a few days ago. “I was asked to do certain things which were not acceptable to me.”

“I told them that I cannot continue with the conditions. My resignation has been accepted and it comes to an end on a positive note,” he said. “Prime minister expressed good wishes for me, I also have good wishes for him.” The sources revealed that Sultan had refused to make arrests of politicians on someone’s orders.

“He was pressurised by the government and some other institutions in the last four months to register cases against the people of their choice and arrest them,” they further said.

Sultan, according to the source, had also withdrawn the arrest powers from NAB director-generals (DGs) to avoid misuse of authority by the officials.

Considered an upright officer by his peers and colleagues, Sultan also served as Punjab Police IG and was later appointed as director general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). He was holding the same post when the PTI staged the 2014 sit-in in Islamabad.

He had also served as director general of the IB during the tenure of then-prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.

A NAB reference was also approved against him and he remained a co-accused with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif over alleged irregularity in the purchase of vehicles in the name of a Saarc conference. However, NAB did not file the reference.

Former foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry was also a co-accused and they were facing charges of causing a loss of Rs1.95 billion to the national exchequer.

Reacting to the development, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry said that the resignation of the NAB chairman is a big step towards the collapse of the fascist system.

“Aftab Sultan resigned against the ‘interference’ in his work,” the former federal minister said, adding those 22 officers who were appointed in Punjab for the same purpose should also step aside.

“It is in the interest of both the country and the bureaucracy.”