Why Aftab Sultan resigned

ISLAMABAD: Aftab Sultan who became the accountability chief on the special request of Nawaz Sharif in July last year Tuesday resigned on the request of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif --- less than seven months after assuming the office --- apparently for not toeing the government line on pacing up against the political opponents.

Soon after Shehbaz took charge as the prime minister, he wanted to have a meeting with Aftab with an intention to offer him a position in the government but the latter regretted. He met only after the intervention of his former boss, Nawaz Shairf, under whom he had served as Intelligence Bureau DG. A source privy to the details said Aftab agreed to accept the post of National Accountability Bureau chairman on elder Sharif’s insistence and on the condition that he will neither compromise on his independence nor fulfil anyone’s expectation just to please the government.

While his resignation has been accepted, the government has three names in mind to consider for his replacement. They are former FIA DG Bashir Memon, Punjab Ombudsman Maj (retd) Azam Suleman and former aviation secretary Irfan Elahi. Is it believed that a person who is finalised will be the one enjoying the confidence of the ruling alliance and the establishment. Azam and Irfan are both from the forces. The former is a retired major of the army and the latter is a retired squadron leader of the air force. The name of Bashir may be vetoed by Asif Zardari given their chequered history of relationship.

As for the reason for Aftab’s removal, a government official told The News that the NAB chairman was asked by the prime minister to expedite the investigation into cases against the political opponents as they are not fabricated. Aftab responded that the work was in progress and this would take around a couple of months but the government was in a hurry to conclude and put them behind the bar as elections neared. Aftab said he couldn’t do this without following the due process which irked the government. He offered to step down which was readily agreed by the government.

A source in NAB agreed with the above-mentioned reason. There are many cases and almost all of them are genuine but Aftab is not the person who would break the rule to please someone. Among the cases ripe for conclusion included Toshakhana case, billion tree tsunami case, Peshawar BRT case, Al-Qadir University case as well as the investigations against Farah Gogi, Usman Buzdar and Ali Amin Gandapur. According to the amended NAB ordinance, the anti-corruption watchdog can’t arrest anyone before the completion of the investigation.

Another case where NAB didn’t fulfil the wish of the government was the helicopter reference against Imran Khan. Although some elements within the establishment wanted NAB to submit a challan in this case, Aftab opposed it. He was of the view that it would be better to recover money from those who made an unauthorised use of the helicopter of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government instead of initiating criminal proceedings against them. Another demand of starting investigation against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani was also not met as Aftab said it didn’t stand the merit governing NAB affairs.

The previous establishment was also unhappy with the accountability head, it has been learnt. It wanted investigation dropped against Sabir Mithu which was not entertained. Likewise, the case against Kamran Kayani, younger brother of the former army chief, was also of particular interest. Aftab transferred his investigation to the NAB Rawalpindi on the demand of the complainant against him who had posted no-confidence on Lahore NAB DG. Attempts to reverse this order failed. Some elements wanted a case against Wapda former chairman Lt Gen (retd) Muzammal Hussain concluded at their wish and whim but Aftab refused to give him a discriminatory treatment.