President proposes Bukhari's name as NAB chief: PML-N rejects nomination

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday proposed the name of Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari as chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB)-top anti-graft body which has been stumbling along without a chairman at the helm since long.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that President Asif Ali Zardari has proposed Bukhari's name and contacted Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani including opposition leader in National Assembly, Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, seeking their opinion for his appointment as NAB chairman.
The top slot of chairman NAB has remained vacant after resignation of Syed Deedar Hussain Shah, a retired judge some six months back when Supreme Court declared his nomination as null and void.
The PML-N, main opposition political party, which had earlier challenged appointment of Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as chief of anti-graft body in Supreme Court, had once again expressed its reservations over Bukhari's nomination.
Talking to Business Recorder PML-N spokesman Senator Mushahidullah said: "I wonder why President Ali Zardari fails all the time to appoint an honest man, acceptable to all political parties, for this [NAB] slot".
It reflects nothing but cronyism, he said, adding that the government plans to appoint a man like Bukhari in a bid to get rid of all corruption cases against the regime, pending before the accountability bureau.
He said that the government is bound to consult leader of opposition in National Assembly before appointing NAB chairman and a letter by President Zardari, which is mandatory, had also been sent to opposition leader. "You could not call it a consultation, it is just like an intimation that we are going to appoint XYZ for NAB chairman, that's all," he added.
President Asif Ali Zardari has nominated former Bukhari's name chairman of the bureau after Supreme Court dismissed, for the second time, government's request seeking extension in time set by the court for appointment of chairman and prosecutor general of NAB which is laying vacant for the last so many months.
Admiral Fasih Bokhari is a retired four-star naval officer and former Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of Pakistan Navy from 1997 to 1999. He quit as Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy on October 6, 1999, after being superseded by much junior military officer and newly promoted General Pervez Musharraf, when he was appointed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in addition to his being Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army.