Educationist Mian Javed: a victim of NAB’s draconian powers

ISLAMABAD: An educationist, Mian Javed, arrested by NAB Lahore on Oct 9 this year died on Friday in NAB custody. Pictures of his dead body show him handcuffed even after his death.

He was one of many accused of NAB who has been arrested during the course of inquiry. His reputation was destroyed on the basis of mere allegation widely publicised by the NAB through media. There was no reference filed against the poor man but he was humiliated even after his death.

Mian Javed is the victim of NAB’s draconian power, which has been massively misused time and again for the last almost two decades but despite even apex court’s repeated serious reservations to Bureau’s working it is being not disciplined.

Last month a district accounts officer Bahawalnagar who was arrested by the NAB in June this year on the flimsy charges of “poor supervision” when salaries of ghost educators were paid, also died in custody.

He had applied for bail on health ground, which was rejected. Even during the arrest he was hospitalized. In his case too, the poor officer died in jail when there was no reference filed against him. A family source of a NAB accused, presently on judicial remand, contacted The News on Friday after hearing the news of Mian Javed’s death in custody.

The source was extremely concerned about the accused (his relative) and explained that he (accused) too is a cardiac patient. The source recalled that once the accused told him that he takes extra care of himself as much as possible in those circumstances in jail but warned it takes at least one hour to get medical aid in case of emergency under the jail SOPs.

The source said that Mian Javed was in the NAB barrack in jail. “I am really concerned about other inmates including my own relative as they would really be depressed on this and there is nothing to alleviate their miseries,” the source said, adding, “media, judiciary and government all are abettors in these murders.”

The latest incident of Mian Javed raises the fundamental question, for how long would the NAB play with people’s life, dignity and liberty in the name of corruption and misuse of authority? The NAB’s unfettered powers to arrest any person of its own choice without caring about the standard of evidence and on the basis of mere allegation, has made the Bureau callous and inhuman.

Unfortunately with such powers vested to NAB, there is no check on it. Instead of showing remorse on this, the NAB had the guts to say that Mian Javed was on judicial custody in Camp Jail Lahore on the orders of respective Accountability Court since Oct 2018.

The NAB’s clarification ignored the very fact that the deceased was arrested by the NAB. The National Accountability Bureau on October 8th had arrested former Vice-Chancellor of Sargodha University Dr Muhammad Akram Chaudhry and varsity’s former Registrar Brigadier ® Rao Jamil Asghar, CEO Lahore sub-campus Mian Javed, Director Administration Lahore sub-campus Muhammad Akram, CEO, Mandi Bahauddin sub-campus Waris Nadeem and his partner Naeem Mukhtar in connection with alleged setting up of illegal sub-campuses of Sargodha University under public private partnership policy. The NAB had summoned them to record their statement in connection with the private sub-campuses case but all of them were arrested by the Bureau inside its Lahore office.