Tag: NAB chairman

  • ‘I was stripped naked’: Tayyaba Gul reveals during hearing on harassment complaint against ex-Chairman NAB

    ‘I was stripped naked’: Tayyaba Gul reveals during hearing on harassment complaint against ex-Chairman NAB

    Tayyaba Gul said on Thursday that Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the Head of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances and former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, threatened to destroy her life. She made this revelation in front of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

    “Javed Iqbal would tell me that he will destroy my life within a minute,” said Gul.

    “I met Iqbal during a meeting regarding missing persons,” she said, adding that when she asked him not to call her repeatedly, “he got angry”.

    “My number was written on the request filed for the missing person, and he [Iqbal] kept calling me time and again,” she said. “I recorded Iqbal because he was a very powerful official and I wanted to expose him,” she added.

    “My husband and I were arrested under the direction of the former chairman NAB. I was arrested by male officers and cannot even share the barbarity that I endured during the car ride.”

    Tayyaba Gul also revealed that on the orders of DG NAB Lahore Saleem Shehzad, she was stripped naked during a search operation and her nude videos were shown to her husband.

    .

    The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) summoned Justice (retd), Javed Iqbal, today (July 7) after allegations of sexual harassment resurfaced against him. The former NAB chief was summoned on the complaint of Tayyaba Gul. She had written a letter to the PAC chairman levelling harassment allegations against Iqbal.

    However, Justice (retd) Iqbal did not attend the PAC meeting.

    PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan also raised the issue of the allegations made by human rights activist Amina Masood Janjua in Hamid Mir’s show ‘Capital Talk’ on Geo News.

    Ms Janjua revealed that when a woman went to the commission to inquire about her missing husband’s whereabouts, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal said to her: “You are so beautiful. Why do you need a husband?”

    https://twitter.com/arshdchaudhary/status/1544359653550727168

    The same allegations were previously made by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Manzoor Pashteen in 2018. He narrated the same incident while talking on Neo News‘ programme Khabar Kay Peechay.

  • National Assembly approves Journalists Protection Bill and NAB Ordinance Bill

    National Assembly approves Journalists Protection Bill and NAB Ordinance Bill

    The National Assembly (NA) on Monday passed seven bills, including one related to three recent amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO-1999) that gave extension in service to the incumbent NAB chairman, reports Dawn.

    Among these bills was one related to the protection of journalists. The other five bills related to protection against harassment of women at workplaces, the National Commission on the Rights of Child, the juvenile justice system, and amendments to criminal laws.

    Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari took to Twitter and announced the passing of the bills.

    The bills presented by Mazari were Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill 2021, Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplaces Bill 2021, National Commission on the Rights of Child (Amendment) Bill 2021, Juvenile Justice System (Amendment) Bill 2021, and Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection (Amendment) Bill 2021.

    The other two bills were Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 and National Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2021.

  • Government decides to give extension to NAB chairman

    The government has decided to give an extension to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal and a draft ordinance has been prepared, Ayaz Akbar Yousafzai reports for Geo News.

    Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, and Adviser on Interior and Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar suggested changes in the law.

    According to sources privy to the matter, more than one amendment has been proposed.

    Geo reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan will chair a meeting today (Tuesday), in which a final approval will be given to the proposal drafted in consultation with federal ministers.

    The tenure of a NAB chairman cannot be extended under section 6(b) of the NAB Ordinance 1999.

    Earlier, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari tweeted that the PPP will forcefully oppose the illegal extension in the tenure of Chairman NAB.

  • NAB Chairman explainer: why is the govt not talking to Shehbaz?

    NAB Chairman explainer: why is the govt not talking to Shehbaz?

    The four-year tenure of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Javed Iqbal will end early next month.

    The non-extendable tenure of the NAB chairman has led to rumours as Prime Minister Imran Khan refuses to consult the Leader of the Opposition and the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shehbaz Sharif.

    PM Khan has refused to hold talks with Shehbaz Sharif as the latter is accused of corruption references filed against him by NAB.

    Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, while speaking on HUM News programme ‘Hum Meher Bokhari Kay Sath’, said: “The government has decided not to consult Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for the appointment of NAB chairman since he (Sharif) is accused in several corruption references filed by the bureau (in accountability courts).”

    “The attorney general and the law minister have been tasked to check how can one do the consultation from an accused Leader of the Opposition by weighing other legal options as the tenure of the NAB chairman is about to end,” added Fawad.

    Under the NAB Ordinance, the prime minister has to consult the Opposition Leader for the appointment of the NAB chairman, reports Dawn.

    The ordinance says: “There shall be a Chairman NAB to be appointed by the President in consultation with the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly for a non-extendable period of four years on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the President and shall not be removed except on the grounds of removal of Judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan.”

    Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), told Dawn that it would be ‘illegal’ if the government did not consult the Opposition Leader for the appointment of the NAB chairman.

    To a question about the government’s plea that the Opposition Leader was a NAB suspect, Mr Mehboob said: “There is no issue of being a NAB suspect or accused. Unless the opposition leader is convicted the premier can consult him on the matter in accordance with the law.”

    He further said that not only the NAB ordinance demanded consultation with the Opposition Leader but also there was a decision of the apex court in this regard. “To consult the Opposition Leader for the purpose is not a choice but a legal binding,” he maintained.

    NAB has accused Shehbaz of laundering money and owning more assets than his known sources of income.

    In December last year, the anti-graft watchdog had issued orders to freeze 23 properties owned by former Punjab chief executive and his sons, Hamza and Suleman, over claims they had acquired assets beyond their known sources of income and committed money-laundering.

    According to NAB, an investigation against Shehbaz, Hamza, Suleman, and others had revealed that the PML-N president had acquired properties in the name of his wives Nusrat and Tehmina Durrani.

  • Safdar for police case against Imran over ‘assassination attempt’ on wife Maryam

    Safdar for police case against Imran over ‘assassination attempt’ on wife Maryam

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law, Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar, has approached the police seeking the registration of a case against some 100 people, including Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, for “attempting to assassinate” his wife and party vice president, Maryam Nawaz.

    As per the details, Safdar has submitted at the Chuhang Police Station in Lahore an application seeking the registration of a first information report (FIR) against the premier, his aide on accountability and interior, Mirza Shahzad Akbar; National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal among others.

    In the petition, Safdar, who was accompanying Maryam for her NAB appearance, claimed that attempts were made to assassinate Maryam at the behest of the accused.

    “Sensing the seriousness of the situation, I drove away [from the NAB office] to save the life of my wife,” he said.

    The petition comes after PML-N supporters and police on Tuesday engaged in violent clashes outside the anti-graft watchdog’s Lahore office, where Maryam had been summoned to respond in a case of alleged illegal transfer of government land.

    While police and the Punjab government claimed that it was a deliberate attempt on the PML-N leader’s part to create anarchy, Maryam accused NAB and police of attacking the party’s workers and pelting stones at her bulletproof car. 

    According to the police, a case against PML-N leaders, including Maryam and Safdar, and as may as 188 workers has been registered at the Chuhang Police Station on NAB’s application.

    MARYAM ATTACKED WITH LASER GUN’:

    While PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has said if the police fail to book the accused, the party will move the Lahore High Court (LHC), claims regarding the attempt on Maryam’s life have been added to with party stalwart Rana Sanaullah saying that “a laser gun was used”.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, he said the “hidden agenda behind the clash seemed to be an attempt on Maryam’s life”.

    “How can pelting of stones inflict such damage on a bullet-proof vehicle? I think a laser gun was used from some nearby building,” he said.

    THE CASE AGAINST MARYAM:

    According to Geo, NAB has accused Maryam of receiving 200 acres of what was supposed to be government land in Raiwind. Reports claim that the transfer was made during former Lahore deputy commissioner (DC) Noorul Amin Mengal and former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general (DG) Ahad Cheema’s tenure.

    NAB had also summoned Mengal along with the LDA officials of that time with records.

    A tract of land, stretching over 3,568 kanals, was bought by the Sharif family in 2013. The largest part of the property, 1,936 kanals, was transferred to the name of Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif’s mother, Shamim Bibi. The land that was transferred to Maryam from that tract was 1,440 kanals.

    Maryam’s appearance on Tuesday was postponed after NAB told her to return, keeping in view the law and order situation.