Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has taken charge of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), days after the government and opposition agreed upon his appointment as chairman of the top graft buster.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament, the NAB chief said cases will not be delayed now, media reported on Wednesday.
“Neither I am under any pressure, nor linked to any political party,” Iqbal said, who has replaced the outgoing chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.
The newly-appointed chief said he would himself look into the references filed against the Sharif family, adding that significant changes will also be seen in the bureau in the coming days.
Iqbal’s name was among a list of three – along with Justice (retd) Faqeer Muhammad Khokhar and former secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan Ishtiak Ahmad – proposed for the slot by Khursheed Shah following consultation with other opposition parties, except the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He had retired from the Supreme Court in 2011. The government had suggested the names of Justice (retd) Rehmat Jafri, Justice (retd) Ijaz Chaudhry and Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General Aftab Sultan.
Justice Iqbal had refused to take oath on a Provisional Constitutional Order in November 2007 and as a result was removed from his position during the regime of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. However, in 2009 he was reinstated as an SC judge.
In 2012, Justice Iqbal was appointed as head of the Abbottabad Inquiry Commission tasked to investigate the circumstances surrounding the US raid and killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The 700-page report compiled by him in 2013 was never made public by the government.
He also served as the chairman of a judicial commission mandated to trace missing persons.
