LAHORE: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Saturday warned of a reinvigorated National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after Ramazan, predicting that the bureau would act like ‘Tarzan’ against the opposition as well as the government side and that the former may have to compromise on 18th Amendment to change the NAB law.

“After Ramazan, NAB is becoming Tarzan. There would be return of NAB as Tarzan after Ramazan. But this time, the NAB will become Tarzan for both sides (the opposition and the government),” he said at the weekly press conference at the PR headquarters here.

When asked about the issues of 18th Amendment, changes to the NAB ordinance and government-opposition talks, the minister claimed that neither of the issues were going to be resolved soon.

“I don’t think it will happen at the moment, as there is still a lot of time to do it. Actually the N-league wants change to the NAB laws and for this it may not only have to compromise on 18th Amendment, it may even have to bring 20th Amendment [in the Constitution] then,” he maintained.

“Moreover, the draft of the proposed changes to NAB laws, that is taking rounds in the market, is false and baseless,” he said.

He said presently the dialogues on the future role of the NAB between the government and the opposition are underway. “But the government becomes angry with me, whenever I talk on these issues,” he quipped.

“Whatever changes the N-league is seeking to the NAB ordinance will be a mockery of NAB. At least I don’t support this,” Rashid said, adding that he believed that some people wanted a ‘joint venture’ to achieve their objectives by linking 18thamendment to the change in NAB ordinance. But they don’t know, perhaps, that they were between the devil and the deep blue see.

“So I am not seeing amendments to the NAB laws in near future. But I know that Qalanadars (bigwigs) from both sides (opposition and the government) may go in [behind the bars] after Eid,” he said.He said those seeking ‘relaxation’ from the accountability on the pretext of 18thamendment or any other issue would be taken to task soon.

The minister, appreciating recent changes in the information ministry, said, “I was never interested in this [information] ministry, as I didn’t ask the PM Imran Khan in this regard. But now an excellent team has come to run the information ministry, as Shibli Fraz is on screen, while retired Gen Bajwa is behind the screen.”

He said Imran Khan was right is saying that the lower-middle class was actually hit by the Covid-19 situation. “It is correct that the main issue is with the sufaid posh (lower-middle class) people who cannot beg like those standing at intersections, roads etc and seeking help. So I would recommend that shutters of all shops should open,” he said, adding there was no lockdown anywhere in Pakistan. “Let’s move with me and I will show you. It is a mockery [of the lockdown],” he said.

He said PM’s ousted advisor Ms Firdaus Ashiq Awan would be appearing on TV continuously, saying like Nawaz Sharif “Mujhay Kiyun Nikala [why I was thrown out].”

Talking briefly about his department, the minister said the railways was ready to resume limited operation.

“Subject to permission of the PM, we are ready to resume our operation by running 30 trains,” he added. He said since the PR suffered a huge loss due to Covid-19 pandemic, it would not be in a position to cover its financial losses of Rs34 billion.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2020