A long-held desire of the political class and civil society to see retired army officers indicted, like their civilian counterparts, for alleged wrongdoing seems about to be fulfilled. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has announced its decision to file a Rs 2 billion corruption reference against four retired senior army officers, including three generals: Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi, an ex-ISI chief who served as minister for Pakistan Railways (PR) in General Pervez Musharraf's government; Lieutenant-General Saeeduz Zafar, general manager, PR; and Maj-General Hamid Hassan Butt who served as member PR Board of Directors. They are accused of allotting, in 2001, 141 acres of prime railways land to a private firm at a throwaway price.
The deal had caused simmering resentment but it was not until 2012 under a civilian dispensation that the National Assembly's Committee on Railways made a detailed report on the issue, recording several financial and administrative irregularities. It recommended prosecution of all members of the PR executive committee. In a separate report, the Federal Investigation Agency said a loss of Rs 4.82 billion had been caused to the national exchequer because the land utilization charge had been reduced from Rs 52.43 to a mere Rs 4 per square yard. Based on these reports, the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly called for cancellation of the controversial land allotment agreement, and strict disciplinary action against the three generals and all others involved in the scandal. Shortly afterwards, they were summoned by NAB for recording their statements, but no action followed. Which was not surprising considering what had happened in 2010 following the surfacing of the NLC scandal. The then NA Public Accounts Committee took notice of three former generals allegedly having made illegal, loss-making investments worth Rs 1.8 billion between 2004 and 2008. But before it could act, the Army had stepped in to protect its own, promising to conduct investigations into the scandal and try the retired officers in a military court. NAB had kept quiet after initially making some noises.
So what has changed now? One is that under its new chairman former Justice Javed Iqbal the anti-corruption watchdog has stepped up action against high profile politicians and bureaucrats, and hence needs to dispel suspicions of discrimination. Second and more important is the ruling the Islamabad High Court gave last week after hearing a petition filed by a retired colonel seeking investigation into alleged corruption by former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf. Notably, the petitioner had asked NAB five years ago to hold an inquiry against the general but the bureau had refused to entertain his complaint saying as a member of the armed forces the general was immune from being proceeded against under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. In its landmark judgment, IHC said NAB has not been able to interpret the provisions of the NAO, and that retired military officers could not hide behind the Army's accountability process. Now that drawing confidence from the court NAB has reopened the case against three generals, every step it takes in pursuing the case will be closely watched.
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