NAB's job is to catch corruption, not fix institutions: Shahzad Akbar.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan's special assistant on accountability, Shahzad Akbar, said Sunday the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) job was to catch corruption, not improve Pakistan's institutions.

Addressing a press conference here in the federal capital, Akbar said his motive to hold a briefing was to speak about the NAB Amendment Ordinance, 2019, which was approved by the federal cabinet and President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday.

He said there was a lot of talk on the issue and, therefore, clarification was necessary. Implementation of prior wishes to amend the NAB's laws failed because they were ill-intentioned; however, the "amendments we made are in front of everyone", he added.

The amendment would be presented to the parliament and anyone wishing to improve it was welcome, the special assistant noted. Nonetheless, if anyone desired personal gain, they would not get it in the incumbent government, he said.

Akbar said the country's economy had left the intensive care unit (ICU) and was on a path to betterment. "We have now started to move towards progress, the institutions are being improved by strengthening them," he added.

He noted that alongside the economic restoration, it was evident that the institutions' reputation was also being rebuilt.

"It's being said the bureaucracy is being given some leeway; that includes politicians and bureaucracy both. There is also a misconception that NAB cannot go above or below a particular account," he said.

Underlining that a curse of corruption had spread in the society, the special assistant said strict legislation was required to fix it. Those who engaged in corruption or benefited from kickbacks should be...