Khursheed Shah ‘not ready to believe’ that Nisar will join PTI

PPP leader says judges would still be languishing in jails if Benazir hadn't signed NRO deal with Musharraf

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah said on Wednesday that his mind was not ready to accept that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan would switch loyalties to his party’s main rivals Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament House in Islamabad, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader said that considering the former interior minister's decades-long affiliation with the PML-N and its top leadership, the move was highly unlikely, Express News reported.

The statement came a day after PTI chief Imran Khan said that a major political player was about to join his party. Khan ducked a question about Chaudhry Nisar joining the PTI, but indicated that he was about to down a "mighty wicket soon".



Commenting on the ongoing judiciary-executive discord in today’s media interaction, Shah said the judges of the superior judiciary would have been still imprisoned had Benazir Bhutto not signed the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) with General Musharraf.

The NRO deal had nothing to do with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, said the senior party leader, adding that Benazir herself had only signed the deal for the sake of democracy.

“She [Benazir] paved way for democracy through NRO and saved judges … they would still be languishing in jails if she hadn't,” Shah was quoted as saying.

He further said that new parliament, following this year's general elections, should ideally resolve the issue of amending the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law.