ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party is finding it difficult to name new nominees for the position of chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after the opposition and the government agreed to propose fresh names to fill the post lying vacant for the last three months.

“Although we have decided to propose fresh names for the post… it is very difficult to find a suitable person for the slot,” Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah told Dawn on Friday.

Asked why the opposition was facing difficulty in finding new names, he said: “It is quite hard to find a person who is non-controversial, non-partisan and acceptable to the other side (the government).”

However, he expressed the hope that the issue would be addressed soon so that the stalled process of accountability could be resumed by the country’s premier anti-corruption body.

Under the law, the government has to appoint the NAB chairman through consultation with the leader of opposition in the National Assembly. And the Supreme Court has already ordered for ‘meaningful’ consultation between the two sides.

The two sides agreed to propose fresh names during a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Mr Shah on Thursday when the former visited the latter to offer condolences on the death of a relative.

The government had already proposed two names for the post — retired Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and former federal secretary Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed. On its part, the opposition had proposed the names of retired Justice Rana Bhagwandas and retired Justice Sardar Raza.

However, the name of Mr Bhagwandas, who has served as a chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission, has become controversial because under the law a former chief of the commission could not hold any other government office.

Mr Shah told reporters on Thursday that “the two sides have decided to drop the names of Justice Bhagwandas and Khawaja Zaheer and now one or two more names would be proposed by each side for the post”.

An insider told Dawn that in fact all the four names proposed by the two sides had become controversial, as Mr Bhagwandas and Mr Zaheer had expressed their inability to work as NAB chief. Justice Raza, who did not take oath under Gen Pervez Musharraf’s Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), has not been accepted by the government while the PPP believes that Justice Jaffery had supported Mr Sharif while hearing the famous plane hijacking case in 1999.

Prime Minister Sharif and Mr Shah agreed that the issue of appointment of NAB chief was of national importance which should not be delayed further. “The prime minister agreed that the issue has been delayed but now it should be addressed promptly,” Mr Shah said. Meanwhile, some analysts believe that the two sides are not according priority to the matter because they both want to keep on the backburner the corruption cases that involve leaders of their two parties.

Two former prime ministers and many other leaders of the PPP are facing NAB cases. Similarly, NAB is also pursuing cases against Mr Sharif and his brother in accountability courts.

The absence of NAB chairman is adversely affecting the performance of the bureau as a number of pending references and investigations await approval of the chairman, sources said.

The last NAB chief, retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari, was removed by the Supreme Court on May 28 after declaring his appointment illegal.

The Supreme Court on June 26 had taken notice of the inordinate delay in the appointment of the NAB chairman as Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry asked the attorney general: “What is the problem with the government? Why there is a delay in the appointment of the NAB chairman?”

Two former NAB chairmen — retired Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah and Admiral Bokhari, were removed by the Supreme Court on separate petitions filed by the-then leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

In his petitions he had maintained that no ‘meaningful’ consultation had taken place between him and the-then government of PPP before appointing the two chairmen.

Admiral Bokhari was removed on May 28 as his appointment on October 17, 2011 was declared illegal by the court, while Justice Shah served for five months, from October 19, 2010 to March 11, 2011.