#MeToo: Former NAB chief seeks reprieve from harassment proceedings

Facing allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of office from Tayyaba Gul, Justice Javed Iqbal has approached Islamabad High Court.

By Naveed Naqvi

ISLAMABAD: Former Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (R) Javed Iqbal Monday filed a petition in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against a summons issued for him by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The current Chairman of the Missing Persons Commission, the former judge was summonsed by the PAC along with some other NAB functionaries on charges of sexual harassment and abuse of office, brought by Tayyaba Gul.

Petition says that serious allegations against the former NAB chairman came to light in the PAC, on which the Committee approached the Prime Minister to dismiss him from the Missing Person Commission, a move that is beyond the jurisdiction of the PAC.

The petitioner seeks the minutes of the PAC meeting held on July 7 to be declared illegal, null, and void; and to declare all the PAC’s directives, actions, and subsequent proceedings illegal and extrajudicial.

Tayyaba Gul accuses the former chairman of NAB of abuse of office to sexually harass her. She had accused several NAB functionaries including DG NAB Lahore Shahzad Saleem of abetting the primary accused.

DG NAB Lahore had also filed an application in the IHC against the PAC summons, on which the court stopped the PAC from taking any action against him.

Chairman Public Accounts Committee, Secretary Interior, Secretary National Assembly, and Secretary Parliamentary Affairs have been made parties to the petition that requests that the parties be restrained from taking any action in this situation.

In July, the federal cabinet resolved in principle the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to formally and transparently investigate the serious allegations of sexual harassment against former Chairman NAB Justice (R) Javed Iqbal.