Asad Qaiser. PHOTO: INP
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif has said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is trying to deflect the nation’s attention from its disastrous economic policy by using state institutions for victimisation of political opponents.
“However, these tactics would not work in long term as people in the coming days would not think about anything but economy once disastrous effects of the recent budget become visible,” Asif said while addressing the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The former foreign minister reiterated the opposition’s demand for issuance of production orders for incarcerated lawmakers including Rana Sanaullah, Saad Rafique, Asif Ali Zardari, Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir so that they could attend the assembly session.
He said Rana Sanaullah, a veteran politician, lawmaker and political worker, was arrested in a fake case of narcotics. “Read the FIR lodged against him. It’s ridiculous,” he said.
Asif also lamented that the accountability court judge who in a controversial video confessed to convicting former premier Nawaz Sharif under duress has been stopped from working but Nawaz is still behind bars. “However, people will remember Nawaz Sharif in times to come,” he added.
Taking the floor, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the opposition is blaming the ruling party for economic mayhem as if the PTI has been in power for the last 35 years.
“They should go to London and sue those who have blamed them for misappropriating the money meant for the victims of an earthquake,” he said in a reference to a recent report of The Daily Mail. ‘
The British newspaper last week accused the PML-N President and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif of embezzling aid money for the 2005 earthquake victims. “Only Allah’s name will remain,” he added in an apparent response to Khawaja Asif’s statement.
The Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also asked the speaker to issue production order for jailed MNAs and said production orders will not set the arrested MNAs free.
Minister for State and Frontier Regions (Safron) Shehryar Afridi also spoke in reference to Rana Sanaullah who was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Forces on July 1 while he was traveling from Faisalabad to Lahore and said his arrest was made based on a tip-off received from a drug smuggler.
“The drug smuggler also has video proofs [about Sanaullah’s involvement in the crime]. Khawaja Asif should ask Sanaullah to tell the truth and he will,” he said.
The PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal asked the speaker to issue a standing ruling that production orders of every MNA will be issued unless they have been de-seated. “Establishment, judiciary and media are supporting the ruling party but still they are unable to perform,” he said.
The PTI’s Aliya Hamza claimed that former interior minister Nisar Ali Khan had once approached former PM Nawaz Sharif to let him arrest Rana Sanauallh in narcotics related activities.
The National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser invited MNA Zain Qureshi to tell the house about victory of Pakistan in the Parliamentary World Cup. The house appreciated performance of Pakistani lawmakers at the sporting event. Later, speaker adjourned the session for an indefinite time.
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