ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) appears to have silently endorsed the appointment of retired Justice Javed Iqbal as chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the country’s premier anti-corruption agency.

Senior leaders of the PTI had a meeting chaired by chairman Imran Khan at his Banigala residence on Monday.

The opposition party remained cautious in giving any statement against the new NAB chairman and announced a ‘wait and see’ policy regarding his performance.

“We have to see the performance of the new NAB chairman before issuing any statement about him,” a PTI spokesperson said while giving details of the meeting, adding that the performance of Justice Iqbal would prove whether his appointment was a right decision or not.

Spokesperson says the party will issue a statement after considering performance of the retired judge

“The party will see whether the new chairman follows the path of his predecessor by covering up cases against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family or sets a new example of fair play and across-the-board accountability,” he added.

The meeting alleged that the government and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah had not taken the PTI into confidence on the appointment of the new NAB chairman.

“The PTI is totally unaware that on the basis of what objectives, qualification and capability Justice Javed Iqbal has been made NAB chairman,” he said.

The party said that it had sincerely presented three names for the post of NAB chairman, but no consultation was made by the leader of the opposition on them.

The meeting was informed that the PTI believed that corruption was the biggest problem facing the country and it had to be rooted out at any cost.

The party urged the new NAB chairman to play his role in taking the Panama Papers and Hudaibya Papers Mills cases to their logical conclusion.

Under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, the government appoints NAB chairman in consultation with the leader of the opposition.

The name of Justice Iqbal was chosen by both Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Mr Shah from 12 people nominated for the post.

Justice Iqbal will assume the charge of his office on Oct 10 — the last day of the four-year term of incumbent NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

Earlier, PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi had termed the decision an “underhand deal” between the government and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Mr Qureshi said the performance of NAB was already under question and the performance of its new chairman would be under a strict watch. “Important cases of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the PPP were being probed by NAB and, therefore, the performance of the new NAB chief will be quite significant,” he said.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition has justified the appointment of Justice Iqbal as NAB chairman and claimed that it was not made as a result of any ‘deal’. “There was no settlement made on the appointment of Justice Javed Iqbal as NAB chairman,” he added.

He claimed that opposition parties had not expressed any reservations over nomination and appointment of Justice Iqbal.

“Four meetings were held with members of opposition parties and the government to finalise the name of the new NAB chairman,” he explained.

He praised Justice Iqbal for his services as head of the Abbottabad Inquiry Commission and said he had a clean past. “Justice Iqbal possesses valuable judgement skills,” he added.

The opposition leader expressed his wish for the new NAB chairman to work without being dictated by anyone.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2017