Sharjeel Memon had fled to London and then Dubai following a crackdown against corrupt officials and politicians in Sindh by NAB. PHOTO: PPI
Memon, who was welcomed here after 20-month-long self-exile, described the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) inquiry against him as part of political victimisation.
“NAB is being used to victimise the political opponents,” he told his from PS-50 constituency in Hyderabad’s rural area.
“I was not in Pakistan but you [Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar] put my name on the ECL [Exit Control List]. If you have (even) a modicum of shame, then place the names of Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar too on the ECL,” Memon bellowed to his supporters, who chanted ‘Go Nawaz, go’.
PML-N, PPP at loggerheads
He vowed to face all ‘propaganda, fake cases and the media trials’ similar to ones faced by other Pakistan Peoples Party leaders, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.
“I will also face courts (just) like they did,” he said.
Memon wondered why PPP's leaders, who rendered unparalleled services for the country, were always maligned.
Crediting Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for initiating the national nuclear programme, he said that Benazir Bhutto had bestowed the country with missile technology and Asif Zardari had strengthened the federation by adopting the 18th Amendment and laying the groundwork for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
“If Zardari had not removed [Article] 58 (2B) from the Constitution, your (President) Mamnoon Hussain would have ousted you from the government,” he asserted.
Describing Nisar as a cunning person, he said: “He (Nisar) held a press conference after the Asghar Khan Commission report was submitted in court, promising that FIRs will be lodged against all politicians who received money (from an intelligence agency in 1993 general elections). But cases have not yet been registered. Why don’t you tell the reason Chaudhry Nisar?”
Sindh’s ex-minister Sharjeel Memon released after brief detention
He also asked the federal government and NAB to explain the criteria for placing anyone’s name on the ECL, claiming that he can name ‘hundreds of people’ who were facing NAB inquiries but whose names were not on the list.
Currently, NAB is probing into a Rs5 billion scam in the Sindh Information Ministry and Memon is among 17 persons accused in the reference. His name was placed on the ECL on Nov 25, 2015. The following month after an apex committee's meeting, Memon was also removed from his ministry.
Provincial minister Ikramullah Khan Dharejo said people distrusted NAB, adding that most viewed the bureau as a political weapon. He denied that Memon’s return to Pakistan denoted some kind of reconciliation with the government.
Dharejo said Sharif had begun a tour of Sindh, announcing development projects to affect the outcome of upcoming elections.
“Nawaz Sharif has always made false promises and announcements for Sindh.”
Provincial minister Imdad Pitafi said that Memon would thwart all conspiracies against him with people’s support.
Senator Aajiz Dhamra and other PPP leaders attended the public meeting.
Interestingly, several PPP leaders from Hyderabad, including provincial minister Jam Khan Shoro, Moula Bux Chandio and Zahid Bhurgari did not attend Memon’s reception.
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