ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was turned into a proverbial punching bag in the National Assembly on Thursday as lawmakers from the opposition benches lashed out at the anti-corruption watchdog.

But rather than offering concrete proposals for its improvement, members spent nearly an hour dragging skeletons out of each other’s closets and continued playing the blame game that is a staple of proceedings in the lower house.

Given his party’s recent run-ins with the bureau, it was little surprise that the discussion was initiated by firebrand PPP MNA Imran Zafar Leghari.

Saying that the bureau was interfering in the affairs of nearly every provincial department, he termed NAB’s activities in the provinces illegal following the passage of the 18th Amendment.

House adopts resolution condemning Brussels attack

He also took issue with the sweeping powers of the bureau’s chairman. “The NAB chairman has the authority to declare and notify any place as a police station or a sub-jail at his discretion,” he said, reading from the NAB ordinance.

“I have my own name for NAB; I call it the ‘National Action Plan for Blackmailing’. Don’t we remember what NAB did in the 2002 elections? It was created by a dictator to change political loyalties; if a PML-N member didn’t join Musharraf, he was slapped with references,” he bellowed.

Mr Leghari then praised the PTI for establishing its own Ehtesab Commission in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as envisioned under the 18th Amendment.

Rising in his seat, PTI’s Murad Saeed pointed out that the NAB chairman was selected by both the prime minister and the leader of opposition, saying that accountability was not possible in this way.

The young MNA from Swat expressed his frustration with the status quo, saying, “The leader of the opposition rises and accuses a certain minister of corruption; then the minister responds by pointing out the opposition leader’s own dubious record; what a farce!

“When the government’s cases are taken up, they target NAB. When the opposition’s cases are taken up, they also target NAB. Can someone tell us who will account for the missing public monies?”

Former PM Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali criticised both young parliamentarians, saying that while their passion and vigour were appreciated, it was difficult to ignore the facts.

“I remember when Nawaz Sharif was in opposition, the late Benazir Bhutto was prime minister and Chaudhry Farooq was attorney general... 55 [politically-motivated] cases were instituted against Mian Nawaz Sharif. This meant that whenever someone came into power, they would spend all their energies trying to wriggle out of these cases,” he said, pointedly.

He rapped both sides for not being truthful in the house, saying, “When you are in the assembly, you say one thing; at the assembly gates, you will say another; and later at night on TV talk shows, you will say something completely different.”

Responding from the government side, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid recalled that even the PTI’s own accountability law had issues that needed to be ironed out. “Obviously, when they made changes to their tailor-made law, fingers were pointed at them,” he said.

Endorsing Mr Jamali’s viewpoint regarding political victimisation, he admitted that accountability institutions had been used to split and carve out new political parties in the past. But, he said, the bureau had also accomplished a lot of good.

“Whatever suggestions the house may have to improve the system of accountability, the government will welcome them,” he said.

ANTI-CORRUPTION MEASURES: The discussion over accountability could have been far more fruitful had someone in the house looked closely at the answers laid before the National Assembly on Thursday, where, buried deep in the unstarred questions list, was an absurd response from the Ministry of Law and Justice.

MQM’s Dr Fauzia Hameed had asked what steps were being taken to control and end corruption in government departments. But instead of highlighting progress in investigations or outlining mechanisms that the bureau has put in place to curtail corrupt practices, the reply listed in detail the various components of NAB’s public relations campaign.

Items such as lectures, seminars, workshops, newspaper ads, TV talk shows, speech, essay and poster competitions were touted as successes against corruption. In addition, the response listed MoUs with the PCB, HEC, PTV, PIA, SNGPL and Motorway Police – as well as the printing of anti-corruption messages on utility bills – as evidence of NAB’s “pro-active approach” in combating corrupt practices.

The response also stated that between 2013 and 2015, over 2,000 inquiries and around 800 investigations were conducted by the bureau, which led to recovery of about Rs9.26 billion. Over 600 references had also been filed in courts, the reply noted.

BRUSSELS ATTACK: The house unanimously adopted a resolution strongly condemning the recent terrorist attacks that shook the city of Brussels, which is also the headquarters of the European Union.

Signed by members of nearly all parliamentary parties, the resolution was drawn up by PPP’s Shazia Marri and PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai.

The resolution expressed condolences and sympathies for the families of victims and reaffirmed the resolve to stop every form of terrorism worldwide.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2016