Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Nazir Ahmed was appointed as the Chairman of NAB

After the consensus of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, the federal government has appointed Lt. General (Rtd) Nazir Ahmed as the Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

According to the notification issued by the Federal Ministry of Law and Justice, after a detailed consultation between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, the name of a retired general was unanimously agreed upon for the vacant post of Chairman NAB.

According to the summary sent to the Cabinet for approval, the notification was issued on 23 February 2023 after Aftab Sultan’s resignation was accepted and the post was vacant from 15 February.

Lieutenant General (retd) Nazir Ahmed has been appointed as Chairman NAB for three years.

On the other hand, in a statement from the Prime Minister House, it was said that Aftab Sultan had submitted his resignation due to ‘personal reasons’, which has been accepted.

It was said in the statement that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised Aftab Sultan for his honesty and conscientiousness in performing his duties.

It should be remembered that Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal resigned from the post of Chairman of NAB in June 2022, who was allowed to remain as Chairman till the appointment of a new Chairman after completion of 4 years through an ordinance.

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal was appointed as the head of NAB in October 2017, he held the post for 4 years and 8 months instead of the stipulated term of 4 years as the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance required a new head to take charge. He was allowed to remain in office.

Later, on July 21, 2022, former Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB) Aftab Sultan was appointed as the Chairman of NAB for 3 years, but he resigned after serving only 7 months.

After the resignation of Aftab Sultan, Deputy Chairman NAB Zahir Shah was appointed acting Chairman NAB until the appointment of a new chairman.

PTI’s reaction to the appointment of Chairman NAB

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry while reacting to the appointment of the new chairman of NAB termed it as controversial.

Fawad Chaudhry in a statement on the social media website Twitter said that the process of appointment of Chairman NAB is controversial, the court has suspended the notification of resignations of Tehreek-e-Insaf members and nominated PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi as the leader of the opposition. It’s milled’.

He said that ‘in this background, the process of consulting the government and the opposition in the appointment of the new NAB chairman was not done legally’.