Panamagate scandal: Bilawal warns government of street agitation

PPP chairman says Nawaz will not be spared for stashing away nation’s money

KARACHI: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned the government of street agitation if the joint opposition’s efforts for an inquiry into the Panamagate scandal are torpedoed through political gimmickry.

“The PPP stands for transparent accountability. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or anyone else who has stashed away the nation’s money in offshore companies will not be spared,” Bilawal said while talking to Khursheed Shah, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, on Saturday at the Bilawal House in Karachi.

Shah had called on the PPP chief to brief him about the emerging situation after the detachment of the PPP from a parliamentary committee formed to draw the mode of investigations of Panama Papers.

Bilawal said the PPP wanted across-the-board accountability instead of an exercise to use it as a tool against some individuals or selective targets. “Panama leaks have provided an opportunity to get rid of corruption from the country through accountability from top to bottom,” he believed.

Shah informed the PPP chief that the party was consulting other political parties to chalk out their further strategy against the government over the Panamagate scandal.

Law and order situation

In a separate meeting with Bilawal, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah briefed the PPP chairman about the law and order situation and the provincial budget.

Qaim said his administration was putting in adequate resources for security from the provincial resources. He alleged that some federal ministers were trying to define the National Action Plan against terrorism on a provincial basis. “They are trying to describe incidents of terrorism in Sindh as law and order problem to blame the PPP government while similar crimes in other provinces are treated as terrorism,” he complained.

The chief minister pledged the Sindh government would try its best to pool all its resources to defeat terrorism and their financiers with the cooperation of law enforcement agencies.

Bilawal stressed the law and order situation should be the first priority of the government and any loopholes in the security of the citizens must be plugged.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2016.