EVER since the Supreme Court verdict on the NRO and its subsequent directive for the relevant cases to be reopened and proceeded on, the NAB in particular and the government in general have been playing games on this issue of accountability. The SC has also taken note of this and issued warnings to NAB, but given that NAB lacks independence and the muscle to move decisively without government backing, the nation has watched with shock how the SC verdict on the NRO seems to be still effectively ignored. Prime Minister Gilani may give declaratory assurances to the contrary, but apart from him the leading players in the political power structure all come under the SCs NRO judgement. That is why the government continues to play dodge the SC NRO verdict. In any case, with government-dependent prosecutors, one is seeing an even greater drama being enacted in some of the high profile cases where big fish are getting off as 'not guilty, thanks to no strong prosecution case being put forth. Now the general malaise affecting accountability has been given a new twist with the prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Syed Hassan Raza Bokhari resigning from his office after levelling serious charges of nepotism, favouritism and personal likes and dislikes rampant in NAB Rawalpindi. His letter of resignation, if even partially correct, reveals the deals and skulduggery that seem to have become the order of the day in an institution that was supposed to act against corruption and nepotism. Unfortunately, it has become afflicted with the same disease of corruption, nepotism and persecution on personal whims, that defines our state institutions today. Clearly NAB has lost its credibility as well as its ability to carry out its tasks. There is a need for the SC to seek other means of seeing its NRO verdict implemented so that the guilty do not continue to play time games. In fact, if the resigning officer is to be believed, NAB itself is now guilty of falsifying signatures on documents and working on behalf of the accused. An accountability of the NAB itself is now necessary since such a state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and it would appear only the SC can cleanse out the NAB stable. Perhaps the nation is demanding too much from one institution but it has nowhere else to turn to. It is too bad the Prime Minister, who is clear of the NRO shadow, is unable to deliver on accountability to the nation. It could have been his defining moment. The revival of hope that the looters of the nation would be held accountable and if found guilty would be punished and the looted national wealth brought back is fast fading. Yet, things must change and someone or some instituion has to deliver justice to this long-suffering nation.