Nawaz says PML-N ready for early polls

Former premier refrains from commenting on cases against Zardari

Deposed premier Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was prepared for early polls, Express News reported.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had quipped that “nothing can be ruled out” when asked about polls during an interview with senior anchorpersons.

Speaking to journalists after making an appearance in the accountability court, Nawaz said the masses must be pleased after Imran hinted at early polls. “They must be thinking we can get rid of him and his government soon.”

“We saved Rs160 billion in power projects but were never credited for it. What should I say about Imran? The entire world can see what he is up to,” added the PML-N supremo.



Asked if the PML-N was prepared for mid-term elections, Nawaz said the party does “serious politics and hence, are always prepared for elections”.

Referring to the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) report, Nawaz highlighted that the number of rejected votes surpassed lead in 53 constituencies while 95 per cent of Form 45s were unsigned by polling agents. “We have never witnessed such discrepancies in Pakistan’s history,” he claimed.

The deposed prime minister refrained from taking questions pertaining to corruption cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari.

Meanwhile, the former premier clung to his no-defence policy in the corruption references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the light of Supreme Court’s Panamagate verdict in July last year.

As accountability court Judge Arshad Malik resumed hearing of the Flagship reference, wherein Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo refused to present his defence, similar to his stance in the Avenfield and Al Azizia cases.



In his statement to the court, Sharif said that the anti-graft watchdog had failed to present evidence to link him to corruption hence he did not need to present a defence. “The allegations against me are baseless. The cases are founded on assumptions,” he said.

Sharif claimed to have documents from 1937 to 1973, detailing businesses owned by the family. “We had over a thousand workers employed by Ittefaq Foundry. We had a mill in Dhaka as well,” he said. He blamed former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for confiscating the records.

Recording his statement, Sharif said he had no need to present his defense as the prosecution could not prove its allegation against him. Sharif said that the references made against him were based on dishonesty. “About eight million Pakistanis are doing business abroad, should they all face the same trial,” he asked.

He said he disconnected himself with family business after entering politics. He then posed questions for the prosecution to tell the court as to who was controlling the [Sharif family] business abroad; did he [Sharif] produce money for his sons' business; and what was the motive behind 'benamidari'.

The accused said there was no appropriate environment for business in Pakistan therefore, his father established industry abroad but added that he was not in politics at that time. Sharif thanked the nation for electing him the prime minister three times.



During hearing, the disposed prime minister presented some details of his family assets. He said the prosecution had admitted that no evidence was available for money laundering, still the references were initiated. He request the court to present record regarding sale of companies in UK. He informed that court that he had filed an application with the UK authority to get copies of historical documents.

After the accused concluded his testimony, the court allowed him to leave. Later, Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Haris began his final arguments in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference case. However, he could not conclude his arguments by the end of the court time and the hearing was adjourned till Friday.

Haris claimed that NAB was not serious in summoning his client to make him part of the investigation process. NAB issued a summon notice to the former prime minister only as a legal formality, he said. The security officer of Shamim House, who received the summon notice, was also not made part of the investigation process.

“The purpose of summon was not mentioned in the notice and the NAB investigation officer accepted that fact,” he said.the defence, Haris said, had adopted the stance since day one that Nawaz Sharif had no connection with the businesses of his children.

At this, the judge stopped the lawyer to present arguments on the summon notices served to the sons of former prime minister. Haris said that it was not for him to argue whether or not Hasan and Hussain Nawaz appeared before the investigation officer.

He said that declaration of the letters from Qatri Prince Hammad bin Jassim as fiction after receipt of his response was not right. The joint investigation team (JIT) should have written to the prince only for verifying his letters in person, and there should not be any objection on sending a questionnaire to him, he added.

The judge remarked that the prince would have been thinking that what was his role in the episode. The defence lawyer said that the prince had been told to undergo an investigation session by the JIT regarding the letters. The prince, however, did not refuse to verify his letters and called the team to Doha to answer its questions, he added.