News

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

NAB chief: PPP replaces Qazi with Bhagwandas

By Tanveer Ahmed

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party on Tuesday replaced one of its nominees for the chairmanship of the National Accountability Bureau.
National Assembly opposition leader Khursheed Shah on Tuesday put forward the names of Justice (r) Rana Bhagwandas and Justice (r) Sardar Raza for appointment as chairman of NAB. One candidate among the two nominated to the prime minister by the opposition leader is different, as Justice (r) Mamoon Qazi was one of the two original nominees of the opposition but who has now been replaced by Bhagwandas. The government suggested the names of Justice (r) Rahmat Hussain Jafari and Khwaja Zaheer, a former bureaucrat.
The sources privy to the development said that name of Justice (r) Mamoon Qazi was dropped because of his fragile health and also because he had declined to accept the responsibility. Following the refusal of Mamoon Qazi, the PPP nominated Justice (r) Bhagwandas, who is a former judge of the Supreme Court and has also headed the Federal Public Service Commission in the last PPP government.
Opposition leader Khursheed Shah had suggested individuals for the post who would be difficult to discredit and clarified that he did not oppose the nominees of the government by proposing his own. “I have not opposed the nominees of the prime minister, but had rather just put forward my own nominees,” Shah said while talking to media in his chamber. He said it was now up to the government to see how it would hold consultations over the NAB chief’s appointment. Under the decision of the Supreme Court when it struck down the appointment of Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari as unconstitutional because of missing “meaningful consultation”, consultation on NAB chairman’s appointment should be meaningful.
The last PPP government and then opposition PML-N locked horns over Bokhari’s appointment when the latter rejected it and former opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took the matter to court, complaining that the prime minister had not conducted meaningful consultation with him
on this appointment. Bokhari was removed on May 29 and his appointment was declared illegal by the apex court.

 

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

Back to Top