LAHORE - The National Accountibality Bureau (NAB) and the accountability process in Pakistan have always been abused and exploited for political victimisation, said Editor The Nation, Arif Nizami during a seminar on "Public Fraud" organised by NAB Punjab here in GOR on Wednesday. The seminar was also addressed by DG NAB Punjab Maj (r) Shahnawaz Badar, renowned columnist Amjad Islam Amjad, DIG Operation Police Muha-mmad Rafique Hassan and Director Awareness and Prevention Brig (r) Farooq Hameed Khan. Arif Nizami, also a leading political analyst, in his address said that there were two aspects of the public fraud, one to corruption and second to create awareness among the masses. He said that media was playing an important role in exploring frauds and it was the staffer of The Nation who visited Double Shah's hometown and broke the story of Double Shah scam, but the question was why local police could not do the same as the fraud was going on unchecked since long. He was of the view that the accountability process in Pakistan had always been politicised. "We can observe the last regime of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif when Saif-ur-Rehman was made head of the accountability cell. He misused his powers and the cell was used as a tool for political victimisation." "The matter does not stop here. During the regime of General Pervez Musharraf the process of accountability was renamed as NAB headed by General Amjad and it was also used for the victimisation of politicians. The biggest fraud committed by the last government was to form a political party with the help of NAB. General Amjad believed that corruption was hardly an urgent issue while corrupt politicians were asked to join the ruling party". Nizami further said that General Pervez Musharraf, General Aziz and others were of the view that politicians and industrialists had looted the country and the NAB started arresting them. At one time the lock up of Sarwar Road Police station was packed with politicians and industrialists. General Amjad himself was exposed when Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad held press conference and exposed him before the media, he added. He said that there are two Pakistans within Pakistan. "In one people are above law while the other is in the tight clutches of law." Arif Nizami said, "I do not say that NAB has not done well but unfortunately its name was branded with political victimisation". "Media is very important to expose corruption in the society but it too falls short of playing its due role in this regard. Every government wants to control the media through different tactics. At present restoration of democracy in the country is a major issue but both the main parties have different approaches towards the judges' issue. Here, once again media will have to play its role, Nizami said, adding that media could not expose rulers leading a luxurious life. DG NAB Punjab Maj (r) Shahnawaz Badr said that Pakistan was at 139th number out of 179 corrupt countries of the world. He said we would have to fight against corruption collectively but unfortunately corruption has become an accepted element in our society. Addressing on the occasion, columnist Amjad Islam Amjad said that public frauds took place in the societies where justice was not available to the general public across the board. He was of the view that being slave minded was more dangerous than slaves. He was of the view that the society where people stoped thinking about the loss, the number of incidents increased manifold. Director Awareness and Prevention Brig (r) Farooq said, "In addition to our enforcement operations against public frauds, the NAB has also focussed on creating mass awareness against this menace. We believe an alert and vigilant society will be less vulnerable to frauds. Our awareness campaign includes periodic anti-fraud advertisements in the print media, programmes on FM channels and posteicampaigns." Corruption has become a chronic disease infecting every aspect of our social, political and economic activity. It aggravates poverty by diverting resources and benefits the rich, increasing the rich-poor-divide and hence breeds social injustice and inequality, Farooq maintained. He further said the NAB had maintained close coordination with the regulatory authorities to support them against dubious and bogus housing societies, medical colleges and financial investment companies. It is indeed heartening to see advertisements and public service messages from these authorities which warn and caution the general public against dealing with non approved, unregistered and unlicensed institutions. The NAB expects and hopes that our regulatory bodies will leave no stone unturned to fulfill their mission and take timely action against fraudulent setups to safeguard the public interest, he added.