PM Imran Khan. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday instructed the government spokespersons to refrain from responding to Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa’s remarks on the issue of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s departure.
In a scathing rejoinder to PM Imran’s recent statements on the country’s judiciary, the chief justice earlier in the day had said it was the federal government that allowed ailing PML-N leader to go abroad for medical treatment.
The CJP, in reference to PM Imran’s statements wherein he urged Justice Khosa and his successor to restore the public’s trust in Pakistan’s judicial system, said the Lahore High Court only settled the modalities of the matter.
Presiding over a meeting of government spokespersons at the PM Office today, the premier maintained that the Sharif family stood unmasked in front of the nation.
“The whole nation is watching. Nawaz Sharif’s sons who received him [in UK] are absconders in Pakistan. He [Nawaz] couldn’t even prove the ownership of the flat he is living in there,” the premier said while.
“The government allowed Nawaz to leave in light of his medical reports and on humanitarian grounds,” he added. “We will never play politics on his health.”
The prime minister said the government accepted the court’s decision to allow the ailing Sharif family patriarch to fly abroad without submitting an indemnity bond to the interior ministry.
CJP takes strong exception to PM Imran’s judiciary-related statement
PM Imran also allayed the spokespersons’ concerns over the joint opposition demand that the election commission should conduct daily hearings of the PTI foreign funding case.
“There is no need to worry because we have nothing to hide. I have submitted the details of my assets to the courts and the party’s funds have been audited,” he said.
The premier pledged to show no let-up in his anti-graft drive, saying that he would continue his fight against the “corruption mafia” even if he had to do it alone.
“The government will not create any hurdles in the accountability process. I strongly believe in accountability and nobody involved in corruption should be spared, whether they are part of the opposition or the government.”
The prime minister said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was an independent institution and could hold anyone accountable. “Whoever has looted the nation’s wealth should be taken to the task regardless of who they are and NAB should carry out across-the-board accountability.”
Speaking on JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s ‘Azadi March’, PM Imran said the cleric’s anti-government movement had failed and now he was making face-saving efforts.
“The country’s economy is coming back on track with each passing day. The opposition is scared that they won’t get turns to rule the country if the government is succeeds in bringing about an economic turnaround.”
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