ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Thursday announced that it would challenge the appointment of chairman of the National Accountability (NAB) in Supreme Court.

The PTI argued that Qamar Zaman Chaudhry who has been picked to head NAB lacked the credentials required for the challenging assignment of carrying out accountability in a fair and transparent manner.

PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said: “The PTI will go to the SC against this appointment and it has already directed its lawyers to prepare the case for immediate filing.”

She said the agreement between the PML-N and the PPP over Mr Chaudhry was a clear attempt to destroy the entire accountability process since the two parties had major cases pending against their leadership and they had opted for a bureaucrat who would not pursue cases against their leadership.

Terming the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties as a ‘mukmuka’ the PTI spokesperson gave multiple reasons why Mr Chaudhry didn’t qualify to run NAB.

The manner in which the appointment had been made was neither in accordance with the spirit of NAB Ordinance nor completely legal, she said. The NAB Ordinance, 1999, as it stands today states that: a person shall not be appointed as Chairman NAB unless he (i) is a retired Chief Justice or a judge of the Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of a High Court, or (ii) is a retired officer of the armed forces equivalent to the rank of a Lieutenant General; or (iii) is a retired federal government officer in BPS-22 or equivalent.

Mr Chaudhry applied for the retirement as a federal secretary for interior after his selection was made by the government and opposition and the process was hastily completed within 24 hours.

“This was done to defeat the letter and spirit of the law,” Dr Mazari said. Dr Mazari argued since it was part of the official record that Mr Chaudhry had closely worked with both PML-N and PPP governments, therefore, by all means he was ‘unsuited’ for the position.