Out of 1,300: Bureaucrats facing only a dozen references

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, on Thursday said the anti-graft body was pursuing 1,300 references currently, and not over a dozen of them are against bureaucrats.

He dispelled an impression that bureaucracy was not working due to fear of arrest by the bureau on procedural matters. “The bureau has no cure for non-performance of bureaucracy and what I personally know is that both NAB and bureaucracy are doing an identical job,” he added.

Justice Javed Iqbal arrived in Peshawar to meet the provincial bureaucracy. He rejected complaints that NAB calls the accused bureaucrats again and again, saying none of the bureaucrats was summoned more than twice.

The NAB chief and linchpins of the provincial bureaucracy met at the cabinet room at the Civil Secretariat. He was received by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Shehzad Bangash and other officials.

The NAB chairman met bureaucracy in an apparent bid to ward off the fears among bureaucracy and reassure the government officials that NAB was doing the same job other officials were doing in their respective spheres.

Addressing the bureaucrats, the NAB chairman said, “We are doing the same job. NAB’sand your objective is the same. It is among the impossibilities that the officers are not working due to NAB.”

Justice Javed Iqbal said, “NAB has cure, if an officer himself does not like to work. “NAB and bureaucracy are doing the identical job. NAB is your own institution. What is your objective? Your objective is to serve people. This is mine also. Your every step is aimed at serving people.

“Your every step is meant for the betterment of people. It is for the country and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and NAB is to reinforce you. It wants to assist you in achieving this objective,” the NAB chairman assured the bureaucracy.

He said, “The country has a debt of $98 billion and if you think deeply, you will find out that this money has not been spent in any city. Just look at the condition of the hospitals, universities. Just look at the employment issue. Today, 50 per cent people in the country live below the poverty line. They find it hard to keep their souls and bodies together. Just tell me why NAB would take a step that would ruin economy of the country. And if the bureaucracy does not take the decisions, then how the country would move forward.”

The NAB chief said bureaucracy is the spinal cord of the government. The government is only formulating policies and it is the bureaucracy that implements the same, he said. Justice Javed vehemently rejected what he called an ignorant propaganda that bureaucracy is not working due to NAB. “I will prove my assertion correct with proofs,” he added.