Sharif-Zardari alliance will fail: Fawad

Information minister says political careers of Sharif and Zardari have come to an end

LAHORE:  

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has criticised a likely alliance between former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari, while also expressing reservations over the appointment of Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif as the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee.

Referring to a Bollywood flick while talking to the media on Sunday, the minister said, “An alliance between Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari should be named as ‘thugs of Pakistan’.”

He said that just like the movie, the Sharif-Zardari alliance would also fail as there was no hero among them. “Both Sharif and Zardari claim that they are innocent but if they are all innocent then who has looted the country?” he asked.



 

Keeping up his tirade against the leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party, the minister said that when former president Pervez Musharraf stepped down, the country had a debt of Rs6 trillion but it swelled to Rs30 trillion when Sharif left the office of prime minister. Khawaja Asif was the foreign minister of Pakistan, but he did not know who had deposited AED1.6 million in his account in Dubai, he alleged.

Chaudhry said Prime Minister Imran Khan was the only hope for the people of Pakistan. He said the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government wanted to improve the system and it had put the country on the path of progress.

Expressing his resentment over the appointment of Shehbaz Sharif as Chairman of the PAC, Chaudhry said the man who looted the country had been made the head of the committee. “The younger brother will audit accounts of his elder brother. How is this fair? Accountability of Nawaz Sharif is not possible with Shehbaz Sharif as PAC Chairperson,” he maintained.

He said all eyes were on the accountability court's verdict scheduled today (Monday). An accountability court will give its decision on the Flagship Investment Limited and Al-Azizya references against former premier Nawaz Sharif. Chaudhry claimed that the Sharif family had failed to reveal the sources of income used for its properties.

Criticising the opposition, Chaudhry said its leaders only came to parliament to talk about their corruption cases. “They don't talk about inflation, economy or other public issues.” He said politics of Nawaz and Zardari had come to an end but the two were making announcements about jointly launching a movement.

The minister said the biggest problem was non-implementation of laws. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was moving in the right direction but there was need to do more, he added.

Chaudhry said that the accountability court had waited for 15 months but the Sharif family had failed to present the money trail, adding that they had admitted ownership of the properties but were not revealing the source of income. He said Sharif and his children had properties worth millions in Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

He said the verdict in Panama Papers case was announced after three years and if Zardari was proven innocent, it would raise questions about the justice system.

There have been speculations in political circles of a possible meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Zardari in view of the prevailing situation.