News Desk |
The former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that NAB ordinance is against the Pakistani constitution, Islamic values, and our human rights commitments. “It was drawn up by a dictator and it should end”. The former Prime Minister made these statements while speaking to Doctor Moeed Pirzada on his prime-time show “Live with Moeed Pirzada” at GNN on Wednesday, 13th December.
Mr. Abbasi also said that PML-N regime had brought PTI and PPP on a consensus to end the National Accountability Bureau. “The current President Arif Alvi was part of that discussion. So was PPP’s Senator Baber Awan. But as soon as Panama Leaks came out, both parties backed out of the discussion”, claimed Mr. Abbasi.
Defending absconded former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, he said, “Dar is ill and he is in London for treatment; he isn’t afraid of trial”.
“I suggested in the assembly today in the interest of the country, that NAB be dissolved; even if the government wants to keep prosecuting PML-N; keep PML-N in the interrogation chair but dissolve NAB from the start of the next year”, the former Prime Minister said. Mr. Abbasi said that NAB, in 18 years of its existence, has never prosecuted a single politician successfully. “If a Prime Minister can be dismissed on a simple Iqama, then culprits like Babar Awan and Aleema Khan should also be caught”.
He said that he was surprised at the treatment given to Mian Shahbaz Sharif “Never in history has the leader of opposition been arrested and detained like that. The remand given to any detainee is of 15 days. In Mian Shehbaz’s case, it has extended to 60 days. He said that such victimization of politicians was expected of dictatorial regimes but unfortunately it is also happening in ‘so-called democracy’.
Read more: The Government has set a historic accountability precedent: NAB’s former Deputy…
When asked as to why he appointed the Chairman NAB if he was opposed to the idea of the organization in the first place, he said that he just fulfilled his duty. “The Chairman NAB doesn’t come from my family. I was fulfilling a Prime Ministerial obligation by sitting down with the opposition and appointing the Chairman”.
Commenting on Khawaja Saad and Khawaja Salman Rafiq’s arrests in the Paragon case, Mr. Abbasi said that they had nothing to do with the projects. “Khawaja Saad Rafiq has nothing to do with Paragon. NAB hasn’t found a shred of evidence against him. If he is arrested, then all people related to private housing schemes should be arrested as well”.
“I never received a single call from Mian Nawaz Sharif during my tenure of 10 months”, the former Prime Minister said, dismissing the rumors.
On a question pertaining to the prolonged silence of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz since their release from jail, Mr. Abbasi said that their period of mourning Mrs. Kulsoom Nawaz was not over yet. “They don’t need to make noise.
The public can see that Nawaz Sharif has faced the longest trial spanning over 200 hearings. There hasn’t been another proceeding like that”. Defending absconded former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, he said, “Dar is ill and he is in London for treatment; he isn’t afraid of trial”.
Read more: NAB goes after Marriyum Aurangzeb: What is the future of PML-N?
In his premiership, Shahid Khaqan was often accused of taking instructions from Mian Nawaz Sharif by opposition and sections of the media. “I never received a single call from Mian Nawaz Sharif during my tenure of 10 months”, the former Prime Minister said, dismissing the rumors.