LAHORE - A top secret service will assist the proposed oversight commission on NAB to check the misuse of power by the accountability authority, official sources told The Nation yesterday.
The premier civilian intelligence agency has already started verifying National Accountability Bureau (NAB) leads involving more than 12 high-profile inquiries as it has been tasked to monitor NAB activities till the formation of the commission, said the official sources.
The commission to check misuse of power by NAB can be formed at any time after the prime minister’s warned NAB against stop ‘harassing’ the government employees. And after its formation, the secret service would continue to assist it.
“The NAB must perform its duties responsibly. The agency (officials) barge into houses and offices of innocent people and harass them without looking into the authenticity of cases,” he said few days ago.
“The NAB officials dishonour people in unlawful cases and terrify government officials. I have brought this issue to the notice of NAB chief. He must take corrective measures or the government will initiate necessary action,” Nawaz Sharif warned.
The premier civilian intelligence agency will assist the proposed oversight commission on NAB to doubly verify the information regarding the cases against senior bureaucrats and members of parliament and other political figures taken up by the NAB to ensure that the bureau would not misuse its powers, said the official sources.
“The top intelligence service will act as a focal body to the proposed oversight commission on NAB. The secret service has also been tasked to monitor the cases of abuse of power by the accountability body till the formation of the commission. A small section within agency’s internal wing has already been created for the purpose of monitoring NAB actions against top bureaucrats and senior parliamentarians and other political bigwigs,” added the official sources.
Ruling party members close to Raiwind told this paper the oversight commission was under deliberation for quite some time but linking the premier’s warning to the NAB with the proposed commission would not be a right conclusion.
However, they could not come up with a concrete response when asked about the reason for considering the formation of a watchdog over the NAB other than the government claim that the accountability agency was abusing its powers.
According to them PPP and PML-N were already in agreement over the matter of oversight commission. But the surprising development is that PTI, which advocates across the board accountability, also backs the idea.
The proposed commission is to be led by a retired judge of the superior court with ex-army and civilian officers as its members. The legal eagles of the ruling party had suggested the ruling family sometime ago to form such a commission.
The accountability authority will have to inform the commission before taking on the senior bureaucrats and members of parliament. The commission would have powers to check the leads of the NAB to verify accountability agency’s actions against senior bureaucrats and politicians and members of parliament, said the ruling party members close to Raiwind.