Consideration is state should defend government servant for his decision unless he is proven guilty in court of law     An undated image of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) building in Islamabad, Pakistan. — Online/File

 By Ansar Abbasi October 11, 2023, ISLAMABAD: The government is considering protecting civil servants and public officeholders from unnecessary harassment from institutions like the NAB to encourage decision-making.

An informed government source said that there is also a proposal under consideration to introduce some provisions in the existing laws to protect government servants in their decisions. The consideration is that the state should defend the government servant for his decision unless he is proven guilty in a court of law.

It is said that some banks and other institutions have already introduced such a policy. Leaving a government servant at the mercy of anti-corruption institutions for any of his decisions is a major reason that desists the officials from signing files. Mainly because of NAB’s highly controversial role in the past, the civilian bureaucracy and public officeholders have become shy of taking decisions on matters, which are to be decided one way or the other. The source said that Army Chief General Asim Munir, in his recent interactions with the civilian side, has also been encouraging the bureaucracy to take decisions without any fear of being harassed, assuring that no one (like NAB) will unnecessarily bother them.

During Apex Committee meetings, the source said, the army chief urged the government servants not to be shy about taking decisions. It was explained that sometimes decisions taken in good faith do not produce the required results but it should not be the reason to take action.

Meanwhile NAB, under its present management, is also showing restraint from initiating unnecessary inquiries and investigations against government servants. According to a NAB official, the present management has been cautioning the Bureau’s regional chapters not to do what the Bureau has been doing in the past and is known for. Interestingly, the NAB official, on the basis of his experience, said that he genuinely believes that the Bureau should be abolished for the damage it has caused to Pakistan by harassing the civilian bureaucracy and business community. It has been admitted by successive governments that the civilian bureaucracy has stopped taking decisions because of NAB, which has been arresting government servants, including even federal secretaries, on frivolous grounds. Two members of the caretaker cabinet, including Fawad Hasan Fawad and Ahad Cheema, have been the worst victims of NAB. Fawad and Cheema were among the most competent government servants and also enjoyed good reputation but still, the NAB, under its former chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, arrested them for the purpose of political engineering required at that time. Many others in the bureaucracy were also arrested and jailed for months and years without any concrete evidence of corruption against them. Former prime minister Imran Khan during his tenure has been talking about how the NAB harassed and hounded bureaucracy and businessmen but he continued with the Bureau only to fix his political opponents.

According to an official, the army chief’s assurances to the government servants are encouraging but unless the required changes are made, the bureaucracy will not regain its lost confidence.