Senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) hit back at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the arrest of Khawaja Asif, terming it an extension of the government’s tyranny against the opposition party.
In their media talks outside the accountability court, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal and the Party’s Punjab President, Rana Sanaullah, said that the arrest of Asif was part of a plan to weaken the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) anti-government campaign.
“NAB Rawalpindi took its hands off the inquiry against Asif, but the NAB chairman transferred the case to Lahore with mala fide intentions,” he alleged. This shows the bewilderment of the government. These NAB machinations cannot save Imran Niazi’s government,” he added.
“Khawaja Asif is sincere with his party and its leadership. His arrest is an act of oppression and cruelty against the PML-N, said Rana Sanaullah. “The government intends to suppress the PDM and the PML-N with force.”
NAB arrested former foreign minister and acting leader of opposition in the National Assembly, Khawaja Asif, in an assets beyond means and money laundering case from the federal capital on Tuesday evening.
NAB said that before holding public office in 1991, Asif’s net worth was Rs5.1 million, while after holding public office he acquired assets worth Rs221 million approximately (traced so far) till 2018, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Commenting on the case, Iqbal, a former interior minister, gave the example of Prime Minister Imran Khan. |Imran Khan Niazi’s pays less income tax than me but he lives in a 300-kanal palace, while I live in a rented one-kanal house,” he said.
“The arrest of Khawaja Asif is arrested in baseless case which has referred to Lahore,” Iqbal told reporters, adding that even the court had said that there was nothing in the case against Asif. “Will fight this act of oppression.”
According to Iqbal, the arrest was an attempt to weaken the PDM movement. “Imran Khan was angry because of Asif’s fiery speeches in the National Assembly. The day is not far off when this government will be dismissed on the basis of oppression.”
He pointed out that a drug case was made against Rana Sanaullah, while Shahbaz Sharif, Miftah Ismail, Hamza Shahbaz, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were kept in jails. “We are neither discouraged by these cases, not the political situation has cooled down.
Iqbal mentioned that Former director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Bashir Memon had testified that he was asked to arrest Asif. However, he added that when the former DG FIA did not make the arrest he was forced to quit the job.
“The NAB cases will not dampen our spirits nor would these cool down the political temperatures. They cannot arrest 220 million people,” he said. “This is sham democracy. Imran Khan wants one-party rule in the country and throwing security agencies into his politics,” he charged.
He said that national institutions were not owned by any individual rather these are neutral institutions. He added that the government would be strong if the poor man got bread, electricity and employment. “This government will go because of its oppression.”
Criticising NAB, Iqbal said: “The economy is destroyed. Rs100 billion is lost due to destruction of the PIA [Pakistan International Airlines]. There is Rs122 billion LNG [liquefied natural gas] and Rs400 billion flour crisis [scandals], yet there’s no NAB reference.”
Responding to a question about the PDM movement, Iqbal told reporters to wait for January 31, the deadline the 11-party alliance had set for the government to resign. About the resignations from assemblies, he added that all the decisions of the PDM would be taken with consensus.
Rana Sanaullah said that decision about resigning of the opposition lawmakers from the assemblies had not yet been decided. He also said that the PML-N had also not decided whether to take part in the upcoming Senate elections.
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