Admiral Bokhari as NAB Chairman

President Asif Ali Zardari has proposed the name of Admiral Fasih Bokhari (retired) as Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to Prime Minister Gilani and the Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as required under the NAB ordinance. This selection simply cannot be faulted based on the Admiral's work history. He is a four-star much decorated naval officer who opted to take early retirement on October 6, 1999 when the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to supersede him as Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) with the junior and recently promoted Pervez Musharraf. Two PML-N leaders have already made their views on the appointment known: Mushahidullah, PML-N spokesman, attacked the Admiral by implicating him wrongly in the Agosta submarine scandal, a charge that he was compelled to retract soon afterwards, and Raja Zafarul Haq told the press that his party had rejected the nomination. Chaudhry Nisar however has not yet responded to the President's letter, though there is speculation that he may refuse to endorse the Admiral's name as Chairman NAB. This would be extremely unfortunate. With the advantage of hindsight there is no question that Nawaz Sharif's decision to appoint Musharraf instead of Admiral Bokhari was seriously flawed - from a personal, PML-N as well as a national perspective - as only six days after his appointment as CJCS, Musharraf spearheaded a successful bloodless coup against the government of Nawaz Sharif. It must be noted by the PML-N loyalists that Admiral Bokhari repeatedly called for Musharraf's court martial for violating the constitution and illegally overthrowing Nawaz Sharif's government. In addition, he has demanded a commission of inquiry to investigate the Kargil misadventure several times and has also offered to appear before it to give his version. We hold no brief for appointments based on nepotism and have repeatedly and unwaveringly pointed out several flawed decisions taken by the present government with respect to high level appointments, be they in Pakistan Steel, Pakistan International Airlines, National Insurance Corporation, Hajj Ministry or advisorships to ministers, the Prime Minister and the President. In addition, there has been serious concern voiced by us over the penchant for using state-owned entities as recruitment centres by the government, which has led to the erosion of the financial viability of several state-owned entities. NAB as an entity has several high profile cases pending investigation, cases that implicate the President, the Prime Minister, federal ministers and senior members of all political parties including the Sharif brothers of the PML-N and the Chaudhrys of PML-Q. The basic qualification of a NAB chairman must be his unquestionable integrity. While NAB does come under the Ministry of Law, yet Admiral Bokhari's past shows that he may well resign if he is pressured into taking a position that is against what he considers is a principled stand. Such men/women are rare in our country today and one would hope that he gets all the support he can from all the political parties. Thus, it would be appropriate for the PML-N leadership to accept the President's proposal. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011