ISLAMABAD: Newly appointed Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (Retd.) Javed Iqbal on Wednesday assumed charge of the office.
The government on Sunday had issued a notification of the NAB chairman’s appointment after consultation between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly for a non-extendable period of four years from the date he assumes the charge of the office, under the National Accountability Ordinance.
Justice (Retd.) Javed Iqbal served as senior justice of the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2011. Prior to his elevation to the apex court, he remained Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court for one month.
During his career as a jurist, he had heard and led high-profile cases including the case of suspension of fellow Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the missing persons’ case in 2012.
He also led the Abbottabad Commission to probe the raid conducted by the United States to hunt down Osama bin Laden.
Born in Quetta in 1936, Justice Javed became public prosecutor and pleader at the Balochistan High Court in 1971.
In 1973, he joined the law branch of the Balochistan government which he retained till 1977.
He later acted as the Deputy Secretary at the Law Department in 1981 and served as the officiating Secretary Law till 1982. The same year, he resigned from the provincial government’s legal branch.
Later in 1982, he was appointed as sessions judge. In 1985, he attended International Islamic University in Islamabad where he gained master’s degree in Islamic Law.
In 1990, he became Registrar Balochistan High Court which he retained until 1993. The same year, he was elevated as an additional judge at Balochistan High Court and was confirmed as justice in 1995. In 1999, he was one of the judges in the country who retook their oath under the PCO.
On February 4, 2000, he was made Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court and a month later, on April 28, he was elevated as justice to the apex court.
When the emergency was clamped in the country on November 3, 2007, he refused to take oath under the PCO and was among the judges who were removed from service.
