Malik urges PM to share list of NRO seekers

PPP leader says Constitution does not empower premier to end corruption cases

ISLAMABAD:

PPP leader Rehman Malik has asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to unveil before the parliament the list of people who have allegedly been seeking an NRO-style reprieve from the federal government and claimed that the premier does not have the authority to end corruption cases.

“The confused nation wants the PM to make [public] the names of those who are begging for the NRO with evidence,” the former interior minister said in a series of posts on Twitter.

“There is neither any provision of the NRO in the Constitution of Pakistan nor the prime minister has the authority to order NAB [National Accountability Bureau] to close [corruption] cases,” he added.

Malik was referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Saturday interview in which he said giving an NRO-style reprieve to opposition leaders will be tantamount to committing treason against the country and that he can leave the premiership but cannot offer any such deal.

“I am saying this again. Even If I were to leave the premiership I would not compromise on corruption cases, I won’t offer any NRO,” PM Imran had said in an interview with a local news channel.

NRO is an abbreviation for the National Reconciliation Ordinance which was a controversial law introduced by former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf to end corruption and terrorism cases against political leaders including the top leaders of the main opposition parties – PML-N and PPP.

Malik questioned why the PM is asserting that he will prefer to leave the government “while taking the refuge of the so-called imaginary narrative of the NRO”.

“The PM is pointing out some hidden serious pressure on his government. Has our mighty democracy failed to protect Prime Minister Imran Khan; is our ‘present democracy’ a ‘real democracy’ and where are parliamentarians representing the middle class?” he asked.

The senator claimed that his party, the PPP, has never signed any NRO and it is merely propaganda to defame its leadership. “Political victimization in the name of accountability must stop as there is a thin line between accountability and victimization.”

Malik said the opposition leaders “are playing their games for personal benefits” and that the PM is unaware of this developing volcano which may burst soon.

He warned in a rather cryptic manner that “both the opposition and government will continue to fight on a slippery mat of democracy that will slip away from their feet.”

Malik also expressed his deepest concerns over the news that seven coronavirus patients passed away at the Peshawar's Khyber Teaching Hospital on Saturday as oxygen cylinders from Rawalpindi failed to arrive on time.

He urged the government to provide oxygen cylinders and ventilators in enough quantities as in upcoming days, he said, coronavirus positive cases will increase.  “It shows the government negligence that seven people died because of the lack of oxygen cylinders,” he added.