Opposition sabotaging efforts to exit FATF grey list: PM Imran

Says they keep threatening to bring down the government unless given NRO

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused the opposition parties of sabotaging the government’s efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, saying that they would have Pakistan put on the FAFT black list and keep threatening to bring down the government unless given NRO.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, the prime minister lambasted the opposition parties. “They are hiding behind façade of democracy to protect their loot and plunder.”

Today in Senate the opposition defeated 2 critical FATF-related bills: Anti Money Laundering & ICT Waqf bills. From day one I have maintained that the self-serving interests of the opposition leaders & the country's interests are divergent. As accountability noose has tightened,

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 25, 2020

Calling the opposition leaders desperate to save their corrupt money, the premier reiterated that his government would not give any NRO.

In a series of hard-hitting tweets, the premier said that the opposition would be willing to put Pakistan on the FAFT black list, destroy nation’s economy, increase poverty and defang the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) just to blackmail the government for NRO.

The political temperature has gone up, especially, after several photos of ‘ailing’ Sharif went viral on social media since he left for London in November 2019. It has made the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government skeptical about the ‘serious nature’ of the former PM’s health.

Also, the PTI upped its ante after reports emerged that Sharif contacted PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and discussed the political situation in the country.

The tweets have come after the opposition parties defeated the government’s move in the Senate to pass two FAFT-related bills. Following the development, PM Imran said that he has long been saying that the interests of the country and the opposition leaders were poles apart.

“Today in Senate the opposition defeated two critical FATF-related bills: Anti-Money Laundering and ICT Waqf bills. From day one, I have maintained that the self-serving interests of the opposition leaders and the country's interests are divergent,” PM’s first tweet stated.

In the second tweet, the premier stated, “As accountability noose has tightened, the opposition leaders have become desperate to save their corrupt money by trying to prevent parliament from functioning; by seeking to undermine government's effective Covid 19 strategy – a recognised global success story – and now by trying to sabotage Pakistan’s efforts to exit FATF grey list.”

Let me make clear: No matter what happens, my govt will not allow any NRO as it would be betrayal of nation's trust in holding plunderers of public wealth accountable. Musharraf gave NROs to the 2 pol ldrs which quadrupled our debt & destroyed economy. There will be no more NROs

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 25, 2020

He further said, “Opposition tries to hide behind facade of democracy to protect their loot and plunder. To blackmail for NRO by defanging NAB, they would even have Pakistan put on the FATF black list to destroy nation's economy and increase poverty.”

In addition, he said, “They keep threatening to bring down the government unless given NRO.”

Imran, however, made it clear that the government would not give any NRO as it would be betrayal of the nation’s trust.

“Let me make clear: no matter what happens, my government will not allow any NRO as it would be betrayal of nation's trust in holding plunderers of public wealth accountable,” he stated, adding that Musharraf gave NROs to two political leaders which quadrupled country’s debt and destroyed economy. “There will be no more NROs,” he announced.

NRO refers to the now-defunct National Reconciliation Ordinance which was issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to grant amnesty to politicians in 2007.

The debate on NRO started after the government sought opposition parties’ help in passing several bills, including money laundering and terrorism, in connection with the FATF recommendations. It escalated when the foreign minister blamed the opposition parties on the floor of the National Assembly while referring to a proposed draft by the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, seeking amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

The opposition while rejecting the claim had criticised the government for revealing the details of the meetings of the parliamentary committee formed to reach consensus on FATF-related bills and whose meetings were held at the residence of NA Speaker Asad Qaiser.

Recently, Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz shared alleged copies of the PPP and PML-N’s proposed draft for amendments in the NAB Ordinance on his Twitter account, saying the PML-N was demanding to know who asked for an NRO for the past several days.

These are the sources and documents through which an NRO has been sought, he said, sharing the copies of the proposed draft on Twitter.