President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Admiral Fasih Bokhari, the former chief of Pakistan’s Navy, as the new chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the country’s anti-corruption body. The post had been vacant since March and the NAB had been inactive during the past three months.
The appointment raised a controversy from the opposition party PML-N, which claimed that the legal process for the nomination as established in the Constitution was not observed. According to opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the PML-N raised objections to the appointment of Admiral Bokhari when first consulted by President Zardari, and replied requesting broader consultations with the opposition in order to find a more suitable candidate. Nevertheless, the President failed to give the opposition a reply about their request. The PML-N further threatened to challenge the appointment before the Supreme Court.
Admiral Bokhari is the fifth NAB chairman to come from the military. Since its inception in 1999, the NAB has had only two civilian chairmen.
Read the full article Pakistan: Former head of navy assumes helm of anti-corruption agency at adnkronos.com.
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