Govt to amend NAB laws, PM Khan confirms

Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday assured the Pakistani business community in Tashkent that his government was working on changing the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) laws relating to bureaucrats and businessmen. 

The prime minister told the entrepreneurs that the present government was committed to removing obstructions in the way of various businesses and industries, including the pharmaceutical industry.

The premier said the government is facing difficulty in finding quality Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) for government institutions as such experts mostly remain unwilling due to fear of NAB.

He said that with a change in the NAB law, the government will get quality people from bureaucrats and the business communities. That is why, he said, the NAB law regarding bureaucracy and businessmen is being changed.

The prime minister’s statement about the amendment in NAB laws comes days after Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin told Geo News in ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ that the civil bureaucracy is scared of the anti-graft body and the government is working to change the NAB laws.

“The NAB law will change in a few weeks. The bureaucracy is not working at all because of the NAB,” said Tarin.

NAB rejected the Finance Minister’s claim. In a statement, NAB said that bureaucrats should not fear the anti-graft watchdog if they are carrying out their jobs in line with the Constitution, as it slammed the “constant propaganda” against the accountability bureau.

The aim behind the propaganda is to “discredit NAB and discourage the bureaucracy” from doing its job, the anti-graft body said, adding: “Bureaucracy is the backbone of any country; NAB respects the bureaucracy and values ​​its services.”

“Corruption is the root of all evils. If the bureaucracy acts in accordance with the Constitution, it does not need to be afraid of NAB,” it added.