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Aftab Sultan Resigns as NAB Chairman

The former bureaucrat cited ‘personal reasons’ for quitting post he was appointed to 7 months ago

by Staff Report

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Aftab Sultan resigned as the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday, with a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office saying he had cited “personal reasons” for his inability to continue in the post.

“The prime minister appreciated the services of Mr. Aftab Sultan and lauded his honesty and uprightness,” read the statement. “Upon his insistence, the prime minister reluctantly accepted the resignation of Mr. Sultan,” it added.

Sultan, a former bureaucrat, was appointed as the head of the anti-corruption watchdog by the incumbent government in July 2022 after Justice (retd.) Javed Iqbal had relinquished the charge. Private broadcaster Geo News reported that Sultan had told it that he had tendered his resignation a few days back. “I was asked to do certain things, which were not acceptable to me,” he reportedly said, adding that he had conveyed his inability to continue working under these conditions.

“My resignation has been accepted and it comes to an end on a positive note,” he told Geo News. “[The] prime minister expressed good wishes for me, I also have good wishes for him,” he added.

In a farewell ceremony at NAB headquarters, Sultan said he was satisfied with his work and had not bowed to any pressure. “Throughout my life and professional career I tried to act according to law and never compromised on my principles,” he said, adding that the Constitution provides solutions to all the country’s problems.

“Not following the Constitution has resulted in the political and economic mess we find ourselves in today. Continuity of political process and elections is essential,” he said, adding he had not initiated any false cases or dropped an established reference on the basis of personal ties during his tenure at NAB.

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Sultan is a law graduate from Punjab University, with an LLM from the University of Cambridge and a M.Sc. in jurisprudence/legal studies from the University of Edinburgh. He is widely known for his principled refusal in 2002 to assist the administration during a referendum called by then-chief executive Pervez Musharraf while he was a regional police officer in Sargodha.

Following the end of Musharraf’s tenure, he served in the governments of the PPP and PMLN under four prime ministers—Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. He retired as the head of the Intelligence Bureau in 2018.

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