Shah questions impartiality of ‘state institutions’ over Sharjeel's arrest

Opposition leader in NA says some institutions still hold prejudiced ‘mentality of Lahore and Larkana’

Terming the arrest of Sharjeel Inam Memon as a stain on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has said "certain state institutions" still discriminate on the basis of political affiliations.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said some institutions still hold prejudiced "mentality of Lahore and Larkana" which needed to be eliminated for good, Express News reported.

Talking about the ongoing accountability process in the country, Shah said new NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal was appointed with great hope that NAB laws will be indiscriminate for all.

However, whatever happened with Sharjeel is a big question mark over impartiality of the anti-graft watchdog, he added.



On Monday, the PPP former provincial minister was arrested by graft buster officials after playing hide-and-seek for over six hours in and outside the Sindh High Court (SHC), which had cancelled his interim pre-arrest bail and ordered NAB to arrest him, along with 11 co-accused in a Rs5.76 billion government advertisements graft scam.

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“Some people were not held despite issuance of arrest warrants against them, some with non-bailable arrest warrants were bailed out within an hour… but when a person surrenders himself, he is arrested in this manner,” the opposition leader said without naming anyone.

“I, however, hope that the NAB chief will take notice of the situation,” he added.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader also said despite the prevailing poor situation between institutions, he was hopeful about continuity of democratic system in the country. “There is no room for a ‘national government’ in the Constitution and any such step would be extra-constitutional,” he added.

Pointing towards influx of politicians in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shah said same tactics of ‘overnight political conversions’ were adopted in the past too, adding that same happens to parties that keep their doors opened for everyone.

Taking a jibe at Imran Khan, the opposition leader said the PTI chief’s politics revolves around defaming others through abusive language as he has no health and education policies.