Democracy, press being strangled by unknown forces, claims Nawaz

Nawaz slams NAB for 'sparing Sindh' from accountability

Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, continuing his criticism, alleged on Thursday that democracy and the press in the country is being "strangled by unknown forces".

Addressing the media inside the accountability court, the deposed prime minister said that a state stands on three pillars, however, a single pillar has taken control of the entire state and added that the PML-N is not competing with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) or Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), but with other 'forces'.



"They are busy working for a parliament as per their wishes. This is not an era of the Mughals in which a single hand controls everything. The state has to stand on three pillars. The control of our state has been taken over by a single pillar," further alleged Nawaz.

Nawaz, alluding to recent comments reportedly passed by former president and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, asked who was passing such statements and attributing them to Zardari if it was not being said by the former president.

"Where is the writ of the parliament and the writ of the government? How was it constitutional to dispose of my chairmanship of the party?"

The three-time prime minister also lambasted the country's top anti-graft body. "National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is claiming that its sun is shining all over the country. But the people of Sindh seem to be the exception," he added.

Referring to the first sit-in by PTI and PAT after the 2013 general elections, the deposed prime minister said that he knows hidden secrets which have never seen the light of day. "There are lots of hidden facts pertaining to the protest sit-in, they will soon be revealed before the public," said the ousted premier.

On May 2, Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal reacted strongly on to remarks made against the national corruption watchdog by Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who had alleged it of having double standard.

Shehbaz, while addressing a ceremony in Lahore had criticised the accountability body for focusing their ‘eagle eyes’ on Punjab only and warned that the NAB’s double standards were unacceptable.



“The sun of National Accountability Bureau is shining over Punjab,” he was quoted by Express News as saying and challenged his opponents to prove even an iota of corruption against him.

Reacting to the statement, the NAB chief, chairing the executive board meeting of the bureau in Islamabad, said, “There is no doubt that the NAB’s sun is not just shining over Punjab but across Pakistan.”