ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties in Pakistan hit out at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday in the Senate on the issue of its performance and process of accountability. The opposition members rejected the process of accountability as one-sided and accused the government of using it for witch-hunt of its opponents, reported Dawn.
Earlier also the opposition had levelled charges against the NAB of committing grave human rights violations, custodial deaths, and of being used by Imran Khan's government to weaken the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Alleging that the NAB chairman was being blackmailed by the federal government after "immoral audio and video clips" of him were leaked; some opposition Senators said that he is now compelled to obey all orders "he receives through WhatsApp", reported Dawn.
"NAB had become a tool in the hands of the government to victimise the opposition. This is why Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said he will not appear before the bureau," said Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F) leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
"You cannot run the government by hiding behind the army and continuously telling lies. Why do you defame the army by dragging it in politics?" he added. Pakistani Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) Senator Javed Abbasi said that the NAB has been turned into a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf "(PTI) wing".
"There are several judgements of the Supreme Court that highlights the role of NAB in political engineering and forcing politicians to change their loyalty," he added.
The members from the treasury benches responded by saying the opposition was trying to exert pressure on the government to force it to stop pursuing corruption cases against its leaders, who had amassed wealth through commissions and kickbacks, laundered money and stashed it in banks abroad, reported Dawn.
Meanwhile, on December 29, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and PML-N senior leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif was arrested by NAB in Islamabad in connection with the assets beyond means case.