ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal has said “national interest should be given priority over personal interests in the state of Madina”. “The state of Madina is a dream and to achieve this goal we should work with dedication. We should prefer national interests over personal interests,” he said while addressing a seminar on ‘Role of youth in eradicating corruption’ at the Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi on Friday.

Apparently, the NAB chairman gave these remarks against the backdrop of the prime minister’s vision he [the PM] presents almost in his every speech: to replicate the glorified welfare state of Madina, in Pakistan.

Talking more about the dream of state of Madina, Justice Iqbal said: “People become successful when they fight ups and downs bravely. We should work hard for achieving the goal of making [Pakistan] Madina state.”

Talking about his department’s functioning, the NAB chairman said: “NAB only considers case, not face.” He said the anti-graft watchdog was committed to eradicating the menace of corruption by pursuing the policy of accountability for all indiscriminately. “If accountability is crime, NAB will continue to commit it for making Pakistan a corruption-free country,” he added.

Iqbal says national interest should be given priority over personal interests

Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government, he said that despite millions of rupees of health budget, anti-rabies vaccines were not available. “If asking such a question is a crime, we will continue committing this crime” he added.

“Few families have become rich by looting the country’s wealth. Looted wealth would be taken back from them,” said the NAB chairman.

Since its inception, he said, NAB had deposited Rs328 billion in the national exchequer which was a record success. “NAB wants to enhance awareness about the menace of corruption among the people and [motivate them] to play a positive role [in this regard],” he said.

“NAB has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Higher Education Commission for establishing over 55,000 character-building societies in different schools, colleges and universities,” he said.

“Corruption has made unmatched progress in the country and pushed the national economy to the verge of destruction. Surgery is needed to eradicate the menace. NAB is performing its duties without caring about any intimidation and threats,” the NAB chief said.

Javed Iqbal said eradication of corruption was the first and last goal of NAB, but the bureau could not deal with this 70-year-old menace alone. “We all should play our role in ensuring self-accountability; this will help in eradicating corruption.”

Javed Iqbal asked the new generation to help NAB in eradicating corruption. “This dream can turn into reality by sheer hard work. And bright future of students is linked with the bright future of the country,” he added.

Assurance to business community

Talking about the concerns of the business fraternity, the NAB chief assured them that nobody would hurt them, but in the same breath warned that accountability of the owners of housing societies would be ensured.

“Our mission is only the betterment of the country and if this is a crime we will continue committing it,” he said.

“NAB has recovered Rs153bn from the corrupt and deposited in national exchequer during the last 25 months,” he said, adding that 1,262 cases valuing Rs943bn were still pending before different accountability courts.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2019