NAB and the Sharifs

Editorial

All of us, or almost all of us, know what Pakistan needs most of all. It needs accountability, and an end to the corruption which has drained it of so many resources and so much energy. It is shameful that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan should rank again and again on the list of the most corrupt countries in the world. One reason for this failure has been the inability to put in place a body that can carry out accountability fairly, honestly and with complete impartiality. Accusations of political victimisation have risen again and again. This time round things look no different. The decision of the National Accountability Bureau to re-open cases against the Sharifs comes at a rather unfortunate time. Tensions between the ruling PPP and Mian Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N are high, and for reasons that are all too apparent, questions will be asked about the timing. The cases, stemming from a petition moved by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, pertain essentially to money laundering worth millions of dollars carried out in the 1990s. A spokesman for NAB has stated that the cases were not brought up earlier because of an order by the Lahore High Court after the Sharifs returned from exile from Saudi Arabia. Essentially that order still holds. NAB’s explanation is not a convincing one, and will raise all kinds of questions. Indeed the threat of still greater political acrimony looms even higher, and this is not something we need. Accusations of accountability bodies being guilty of foul play have arisen before. It now seems almost inevitable this will happen again. The omens are not good, and the question of why cases targeting the Sharifs have been brought up now will linger in many minds. There are also other delicate issues at play. For one, NAB spokesman says Rs2 billion has already been recovered from RPPs. This is the first time we are hearing of this. If this has happened it is indeed good news, but there seems to be no transparency in the matter. There is also some hidden provision that NAB will get a cut in all the recoveries. If this is true millions will go to NAB officials. Why? The question of the NLC scam is also being taken up. Many sensitivities are involved. The matter of how NAB handles them will be a test case for an organisation that seems suddenly to have moved into a phase of hyper-activity and for its chairman, Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari who in the past has been accused of being too soft on a government which has set many new records as far as corruption goes.