Pervaiz Rashid. PHOTO: FILE
Rashid, who served as federal information minister during the last PML-N government, was among the three PML-N leaders – also including Azma Bukhari and Ataullah Tarar – who were summoned last week by the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) in connection with the case.
Last Thursday, a four-member FIA team also raided the PML-N secretariat in Lahore and confiscated record pertaining to Maryam’s July 8 press conference.
In the press conference, Maryam had unveiled a video purportedly showing judge Arshad Malik confessing to a PML-N worker Nasir Butt that he was “pressurised” into convicting former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Al-Azizia case in Dec 2018.
Arshad Malik, former judge of Islamabad Accountability Court-II, was later removed from his position but the FIA lodged an FIR on basis of his statement that claimed that he was actually offered bribe by the PML-N which also tried to blackmail him using another older and compromising video.
The FIA later arrested a number of people in connection with the scandal and also summoned three main PML-N leaders, including Pervaiz Rashid.
Talking to media after the FIA interrogation, Rashid said he was asked as to who participated in the press conference and how the PML-N got hold of the controversial video.
“I told them that the news conference was telecast live on national channels and [the PML-N worker] Nasir Butt has already accepted making the videos,” he said. He said the government is misusing the state institution against political opponents as it cannot beat them through democratic means.
“NAB [National Accountability Bureau] has failed to keep political opponents in jails as the courts have started releasing them. ANF [Anti-Narcotics Force] has failed in the case of [PML-N leaders] Hanif Abbasi and Rana Sanaullah. Now the FIA will also fail,” he said.
He asked if it was job of a government to undermine its own institutions.
“You should compete in politics but actually you cannot compete there. You have nothing. The FIA, NAB and the ANF will not solve issues of the country,” he said.
On Monday, police placed barricades and barbed wire at 60 places in Lahore – from its Temple Road and Regal Chowk to Safan Wala Chowk – causing problems for the citizens.
Traffic wardens were deployed on the way to the FIA office and the traffic was diverted to alternate routes. In addition to a heavy contingent of police, anti-riot force was also deployed along with water cannons to disperse any possible protest by workers of former ruling party.
According to the FIA sources, Rashid did not provide satisfactory answers to the queries of the investigating officers and he will be summoned again.
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