Will the NAB chairman quit or run for re-election?

Javed Iqbal's term has ended, however he will continue until a new chairman is appointed.

ISLAMABAD: Will National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal resign or seek a second term from the next government?

Javed Iqbal's term has already ended, but he will stay on until a new chairman is appointed. His tenure has been marred by the worst kind of political victimisation and shoddy accountability.

Despite the fact that NAB under Iqbal had arrested a number of political opponents of the previous government, as well as a large number of officials and even businesses, the Imran Khan government did not re-appoint him as chairman due to NAB's poor performance and major capacity concerns.

Javed Iqbal was appointed with the support of a powerful 'uncle' of Suleman Shehbaz and Bilawal Bhutto under the previous PMLN government. The powerful uncle had urged Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari to have Javed Iqbal nominated as chief of the National Accountability Bureau.

Later, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was approached for the appointment of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal through a mutual friend.

The retired justice had even suggested that he would be willing to send his signed resignation letter to the then-premier even before his appointment to demonstrate his trustworthiness.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on the other hand, had told the common friend that he didn't need a resignation letter and had decided to select Javed Iqbal. It's unclear if the shared buddy pushed for Javed Iqbal's appointment on his own or was urged to do so by the retired judge.

Interestingly, opposition leader Khursheed Shah was personally opposed to the appointment of the retired Supreme Court judge as the head of the state's highest anti-corruption organisation, but he had little choice due to Asif Ali Zardari's vote for Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.

Mian Nawaz Sharif had also phoned to then-Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi and gently advised retired judge Javed Iqbal, requesting the premier to "consider" the retired judge.A tycoon — Bilawal and Suleman's 'uncle' — was among those advocating for Iqbal's appointment as Chairman NAB.

Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Syed Khursheed Shah were all arrested afterwards by the National Accountability Bureau, which was led by Javed Iqbal. The powerful uncle, on the other hand, escaped NAB's wrath.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who spent months in prison as a result of a NAB investigation, had already apologised to the nation for appointing Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal as chairman of the NAB. He said that the NAB chairman's name came from the Pakistan Peoples Party and that his selection was unanimous.

The NAB, led by Javed Iqbal, has also been chastised by the high courts and the Supreme Court for abusing its powers and arresting innocent people without evidence. Former Pakistani Chief Justice Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa stated in a case that there was a growing sense that the country's accountability process was imbalanced and part of political engineering. The NAB chairman, on the other hand, has insisted that the Bureau does not believe in political victimisation and that it enforces accountability across the board.