NAB chief to meet opposition MPs next week

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal Thursday said he was willing to meet with the opposition parliamentarians next week.

“The opposition parliamentarians should fix the time and date of their choice for the meeting,” a press statement quoting him said. Justice (R) Javed said he was ready to meet with the opposition leaders next week, as he always held Parliament and parliamentarians in high esteem.

The NAB chairman’s response comes up on a letter sent to him by the opposition parliamentarians in December along with the coalition partner of the government — Balochistan National Party-Mengal. The letter complained of selective accountability, media trial and political harassment in the name of accountability.

The letter was written jointly by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Sanaullah Khan of the PML-N, Syed Naveed Qamar and Shazia Marri of the PPP, BNP-Mengal chief Akhtar Mengal and Maulana Asad Mehmood of MMA.

In the letter, the opposition legislators and Akhtar Mengal registered their complaint of ongoing one-sided accountability, media trial of the opposition and political harassment in the name of accountability.

The letter stated that the opposition parliamentarians believed that everyone was equal before the law and supported the accountability process in the country. The opposition said one-sided accountability was used as a pressure tool against the opposition and if it was used as a tool for political victimization then it would become a threat to supremacy of Parliament. It stated that the recent acts of the NAB and public statements of its officials had created serious reservations about the transparency and fairness of the NAB.