ISLAMABAD: The standoff between the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the federal government finally came to an end on Tuesday with the decision of appointing Syed Ali Asghar as the new Prosecutor General (PG) of the anti-graft watchdog.
A senior official in the law ministry confirmed that the government had decided to appoint former Lahore High Court (LHC) judge Syed Ali Asghar as new NAB PG. The notification regarding his appointment would be issued soon, the official added.
The Supreme Court (SC) had already taken notice of the delay in the appointment. The court would resume the hearing on January 24 in this connection. The top court had sought a concise statement from the law secretary regarding the delay in the appointment of the recently filled post.
The post was vacant since November of last year when the three-year tenure of former PG Waqas Qadeer Dar ended. Under the law, the federal government must make the appointment after consulting the NAB chairman. NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal sent a list of five lawyers to the federal government to choose from. The chairman proposed Mudhasir Khalid Abbasi, Shah Khawar, Syed Asghar Haider, Fasihul Mulk, and Nasir Saeed Sheikh.
However, the president rejected all names owing to several reasons. Later, the president sent three names to the NAB chairman to select from. The president recommended Ramzan Chaudhry, Najeeb Faisal and Waqar Hassan Mir, but the chairman rejected his nominees.
Sources revealed that Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali played a pivotal role to end the deadlock between the federal government and NAB over the issue of appointing a prosecutor general.
Asghar’s name was recommended by the NAB chief. He was also among those LHC judges who had taken oath under November 3, 2007, PCO.
