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APP44-08 ISLAMABAD: February 08 – Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain addressing the book launching ceremony of " Imran Khan Aur Naya Pakistan" . APP photo by Irfan Mahmood

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Govt not to consult opposition leader shehbaz sharif to appoint NAB chairman: Fawad

it was the prime minister’s prerogative to pick a person for the post of the head of the anti-corruption watchdog and that he could only give his advice on the issue.

ISLAMABAD: The government will not be consulting Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif over the appointment of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) next chairman, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said Saturday.

The information minister, speaking to media in Jhelum, said consulting with Shahbaz over the matter is akin to asking a suspect who their interrogating officer should be. 

“Shahbaz Sharif has been declared a suspect by NAB […] and we will hold no consultations with him over the appointment of the NAB chairman,” Chaudhry said.

“Currently, Section 6 of the National Accounta­bility Ordinance (NAO) suggests the president will appoint NAB chairman in consultation with the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly for a non-extendable period of four years.”

Earlier, rejecting media reports, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem had clarified that his ministry had not drafted an ordinance to extend the tenure of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal as the NAB chief.

Talking to media persons, the law minister said the issue of the possible extension of the incumbent NAB chairman’s tenure has come up in meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan four to five times according to local media.

The situation will become clear next week, he hoped, adding that it was the prime minister’s prerogative to pick a person for the post of the head of the anti-corruption watchdog and that he could only give his advice on the issue.

‘Nawaz, Ghani living similar lives’

Meanwhile, slamming PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, the information minister said when Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested, the former prime minister avoided commenting on the matter.

He remarked that Nawaz was living a life similar to that of ousted Afghan president Ashraf Ghani — with one in London and the other in Dubai.

“Nawaz Sharif and Ashraf Ghani fled abroad with dollars,” he said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan effectively raised the issue of India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the minister added.

PTI to form majority government in next polls

The information minister expressed the confidence that PTI would form a majority government in the 2023 elections, and that the polls would prove to be PPP and PML-N’s “last” elections.

“We will form a 2/3 majority government in the Centre we had to form a coalition government this time, and we had to make compromises due to that,” Chaudhry said.

The information minister predicted the PML-N and PPP would fall apart during the next general elections, claiming that no politician is ready to take both the parties’ tickets.

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I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.

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