ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla and other civil society members have expressed their grievances against the Nationality Accountability Bureau (NAB), saying that many people have died in its custody that should be investigated.
“Now the senators will hold the NAB accountable. We will approach every foreign ambassador in Pakistan and will expose NAB’s atrocities,” Mandviwalla said in a press conference in Islamabad today (Sunday).
The deputy chairman of the upper house further said that owing to its actions and undue pressure tactics, NAB’s credibility was not strengthening. “The accountability watchdog is getting maligned due to its abrupt decisions,” he added.
“Now if the NAB sends a notice to someone, people laugh at their decisions. Their actions have no value now, neither in bureaucracy and judiciary nor in the civil society or among business community members,” he remarked.
He also said, “Numerous people have lost their lives in their custody. I have a human rights activist with me today who will tell you how rights have been violated by the accountability watchdog.”
“This is not between Saleem Mandviwalla and the NAB, this is between NAB and the Senate of Pakistan. Every senator – both from opposition and government – has concurred on the fact that NAB should be exposed,” he asserted.
The deputy chairman said that it will be the first time when a probe will be launched against the NAB. “We will check the degrees of NAB’s employees. It will be the first time when NAB will be accountable and how these employees are leading a lifestyle beyond their means,” he added.
Talking about the actions, Mandviwalla stressed that no one would be able to stop him from conducting an investigation. “It is high time we hold such institutions accountable for their deeds and expose them without getting intimated by them,” he said.
However, he said, the Senate’s move against the accountability watchdog was for a specific individual but against all the injustices that the institution has committed. “We will not conduct the investigation inside a closed room like them. The trial will be conducted in front of media and facts will be presented in front of everyone,” he added.
Mandviwalla added that he will make sure to get the NAB blacklisted, not only in Pakistan but across the world. “I will again approach Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Opposition to get them on board so that we can pass legislation,” he asserted.
“As you know that the ordinance was passed by the government to curtail NAB’s powers and limit it to only corruption but the ordinance lapsed as there was no consensus between the Opposition and the government in this regard,” he informed journalists.
It is worth mentioning here that the NAB recently froze Mandviwalla’s assets in connection with a fake accounts case. According to the NAB, Mandviwalla had allegedly bought Benami shares in the name of a person accused in the fake accounts case.
