Shehbaz slams govt over political victimisation

Hours after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s media interaction triggered a tsunami of speculations of division among the party ranks, Shehbaz Sharif held a press conference in Lahore just to fire a broadside against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The PML-N president avoided discussing the pressing issues of the day and left the press conference without taking any questions from the media, who were eager to know his reaction to Maryam, comments and the meetings between PML-N leaders with the military leadership.

At the press conference at the PML-N Secretariat, Shehbaz slammed the PTI government’s double standards in the accountability process, saying that those who saved the nation’s Rs1 trillion were being dragged in politically-motivated fictitious cases.

On the other hand, he alleged, Imran Niazi was guilty of money laundering, corruption but he had been imposed as selected ruler of the country. He said that even if he was arrested, it would not stop his party from exposing the prime minister.

Shehbaz said he and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif were standing by the nation. “Imran Khan is desperate to send us to jail to silence the criticism of his government despite the fact that there was no proof of corruption of even a single penny,” he said.

If the corruption was proved against him, even after his death, his body be dug out from the grave and hanged, like Oliver Cromwell, Shehbaz said, referring to 17th century English statesman, who was hanged years after his death, following restoration of monarchy by king Charles II.

Shehbaz said he was not scared of going to jail for the sake of the national interest because he had braved such persecution in the past. “But this time round, daughters and sisters of the nation aren’t being spared by this vengeful regime.”

Shehbaz, leader of opposition in the National Assembly, alleged that Imran could not remain the prime minister for a single day if the Election Commission and the State Bank revealed the truth about money laundering and misappropriation through 23 Benami accounts in foreign funding case.

He alleged that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was “working overtime to abduct the PML-N members” from their homes in the night, and asked why the graft buster was not pursuing the Malam Jabba case, the helicopter case, and the sugar, wheat, medicine and fuel corruption cases.

He added that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were also working overtime against the PML-N, yet the party leaders would continue to bringing facts about the present rulers in front of the nation.

Shehbaz said that under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, the then PML-N government saved Rs1 trillion in various development projects. He explained that those savings were not a legal obligation nor the government’s responsibility but the PML-N government pursued even the lowest bidder to cut their costs to benefit Pakistan.

In contrast, Shehbaz added, the Peshawar metro project was competed at thrice the price of three metros built by the PML-N government in Lahore, Islamabad and Multan. “Yet every day, a new bus catches fire in this project which has usurped billions of public money but NAB is blind to all this.”

He said that the prime minister levelled several allegations against him but did not provide answers when those matters were raised in the courts. On the other hand, he added, Imran and his sister, Aleema Khan, used the tax amnesty scheme to declare their tax evasion.