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ISLAMABAD – The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has to face first serious setback as a result of its decision to resign en masse from the National Assembly as the party has missed the opportunity to become party of consultations over the appointment of chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the country’s top anti-corruption watchdog.
During the last couple of days, the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is holding talks within its own ranks over the appointment of new NAB chief as an extended term of the present chairman will expire on June 2.
Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar is leading the race to head the bureau that remained controversial for the last over five years for initiating corruption cases against major political leadership of all mainstream parties except the then ruling PTI.
The other contenders whose names are being floated include retired bureaucrat Fawad Hasan Fawad and former Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Bashir Ahmed Memon. There are dim chances that Memon would be picked as chairman NAB as it is unlikely that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), an allied party in the ruling coalition, will accept his nomination.
According to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, chairman NAB will be appointed by the President “in consultation with the Leader of the House (prime minister) and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.”
The law states that if there is no consensus on the name of the chairman, the President shall forward the names proposed by the prime minister and the opposition leader in NA to a parliamentary committee, which may confirm any one name for appointment as chairman NAB.
Under the law, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Leader of the Opposition in the NA Raja Riaz Ahmed have been holding consultations during the last few days and both would finalize the name after seeking approval from their respective parties besides others allies in the ruling coalition.
On Saturday last, PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry during his interaction with media had raised the objection over this consultation process by saying that a turncoat had been appointed as a “dummy opposition leader” only to give legal status to all decisions taken by the government including appointment of the chairman NAB. He hoped that Justice (retd) Baqar, being a reasonable person, should not accept this appointment that is being made through a controversial process.
The statement of the PTI leader can only be labelled as political in nature because the opposition party has been out of the process as a result of its own decision.
Had the PTI not resigned from the National Assembly, it is crystal clear that Chairman PTI Imran Khan or any of its nominees would have been the opposition leader in the lower house for being the largest party sitting on the opposition benches. In this scenario, PTI would have been the major stakeholder in consultations over this appointment.
At present, the government and the powerful quarters are again pushing the PTI to return to the National Assembly, by withdrawing resignations of its legislators, to negotiate all crucial political issues ahead of the general elections.
Besides this, PTI can only become part of consolations on the next interim set-up, under the Constitution, if it returned to the NA. It will remain up to the major opposition party whether it reviews its decision to resign en masse from the NA or will continue to miss other opportunities of consultations on key issues in future.
