Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid has said the federal government is going to start the process to get former prime minister Nawaz Sharif declared a proclaimed offender.
“The government will move the court to get Nawaz Sharif declared an absconder and to bring him back to the country,” Rashid said on Friday while addressing a press conference in the garrison city.
Nawaz, who was serving a seven-year jail term, was granted eight-week bail on October 29, 2019 in view of his deteriorating health condition. The PML-N supreme leader flew to London on November 19, 2019 to get medical treatment. He has never returned to the country since.
In June this year, an accountability court ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to start the process of declaring Nawaz a proclaimed offender in view of continuous failure to attend the court proceedings. The PML-N leader later moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the court decision.
Sheikh Rashid said the politicians who are facing NAB cases are trying to pressure the government to get an NRO – a term used in Pakistani politics to refer to a reprieve.
“In a difficult situation, Prime Minister Imran Khan may take a big decision. However, he will never give any NRO to the opposition leaders,” he said.
Referring to the alleged attack on NAB office in Lahore on occasion of PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz’s appearance before the accountability watchdog’s interrogators, the minister said the stone pelted on NAB building and officials have actually damaged politics of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.
On August 11, NAB could not record statement of Maryam in an illegal land requisition case as her party workers ran berserk and clashed with riot police in an attempt to force their way into the office of the national graft buster in Lahore.
Television channels showed chaotic scenes outside the NAB office as Maryam, daughter of former premier Nawaz Sharif, drove in accompanied by hundreds of PML-N activists and supporters in vehicles and on foot.
The situation turned ugly when some activists in the PML-N caravan pelted stones at police, who responded by using batons, water cannons and tear gas on the rioters. Amid the rioting, Maryam shared a video of her vehicle’s broken windshield on social media, alleging that police were responsible for it.
“Maryam always sabotages Shehbaz Sharif’s plans. She has not pelted stones on NAB but on the politics of Shehbaz,” Rashid said.
Talking with reference to the opposition parties proposed alliance to topple the PTI led federal government, he said JUI-F chief Mualana Fazulr Rehman wants surety from opposition parties that they won’t backtrack from their commitments but the opposition parties cannot stick to their promises.
Responding to Sheikh Rashid’s press conference, PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah said the minister should first put his own house in order and answer for the death of over 100 passengers who perished in October last year in a deadly train accident.
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