Chairman NAB Lieutenant General Retired Nazir Ahmed addressed the civil bureaucrats in the Sindh secretariat and assured them that the NAB would not harass officers and they should openly play their key role in the development of the country. NAB Chairman was of the view that the bureaucrats are working under immense pressure due to fear of NAB’s action on charges of alleged corruption which causes delays in construction and development work. According to him, reforms are being implemented in the anti-graft watchdog and no officer will suffer media trial during the complaint verification and inquiry processes. In addition to that the NAB will not initiate inquiry on anonymous and fictitious complaints and the process of accountability will be accomplished in a civilized manner.
Bureaucracy is an important pillar of the state in modern governance. It plays a key role in architecting policy, carrying out development projects, and implementing strategies to facilitate socio-economic growth and nation-building in any country. Pakistani Bureaucracy enjoys utmost importance and authority because of unstable political governments, lax bureaucratic regimes, and weak command of elected leaders over governmental, administrative, and political affairs. Senior Bureaucracy advises the political executives to make key decisions regarding the national economy, budget, socio-economic development, governance, and smooth running of the government. Hence, the people who have important portfolios in the center, Provinces, and local governments are seriously exposed to white-collar crimes including misappropriation of funds, misuse of authority, and nepotism in certain ways during the conduct of their duties.
According to government statistics and independent Observers, Pakistan has unprecedently slid into institutional corruption over the past decades and this menace has equally ingressed in all public departments ranging from the Revenue Department to LEAs, the Education Department and Health Sector, Judiciary, local governments, and all services providing institutions are the victims of corruption of their employees and senior management. Similarly, military Cantonment boards, NLC, and logistics and supply divisions of the tri-forces are equally indulged in these social evils. The successive past governments and political leadership had categorically acknowledged this bitter reality, while President General Pervaiz Musharraf’s government passed the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) and laid down the foundation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) nearly two and a half decades ago. Under the NAB Ordinance, all government institutions and public office holders including judges and generals, politicians, bureaucrats, government executives, businessmen, and contractors were vulnerable to corruption and liable to accountability during/after the government service and their term in public office and thereafter.
In the early stage, there was much hue and cry, Gestapo-type investigation and prosecution along with unlawful media trials of the accused caused insult and humiliation for concerned individuals, while the same was faced by the anti-graft watch at its failure in proving the case in the court. Interestingly, cunning bureaucracy assured the political leaders that junior bureaucrats lacked interest in their work due to fear of harassment and investigation from the NAB authorities which seriously caused delays in construction work, development projects, and service delivery to the public. This strategy worked perfectly and gradually NAB authorities excluded government executives from their scrutiny list narrowing it to only the political class as judges and generals were already exempted over pleas of their departmental accountability mechanism, businessmen deal in their own money while Police and LEAs investigate criminals and crooks. Currently, corruption is at its peak and Transparency International ranked Pakistan at 140th position among 180 countries around the globe. The government and NAB authorities must not issue clean chits to any specific group or class considering them immune from bad deeds particularly when that group is highly malignant and prone to corruption. However, the bureau must adapt new methodologies, the latest investigative techniques, and modern technical gadgets and conduct investigations in a civilized and lawful manner so no one escapes accountability and eludes justice in any disguise and fake sacrosanctity.
