Opposition slams cases against their leaders

The opposition senators on Tuesday slammed the government over the arrest of their party leaders and also criticised the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for “remaining silent on corruption in several mega projects” of the PTI government.

Speaking in the Senate, Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Musadik Malik of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said that those politicians who questioned the silence of the graft-buster over the “PTI government’s corruption in mega projects” were being targeted.

“The [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] ministers target the opposition on a daily basis. In this situation, what can be discussed?” asked Rehman, raising the issue of cases against the opposition leaders and their arrest.

On the other hand, she continued, NAB had opened inquiries against 18 ministers but they were not being sent on remand. “At present, former opposition leaders Khursheed Shah, Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz and Khawaja Asif are all in jail.”

“Look at the foreign funding case and the BRT [bus rapid transport] project. The courts have questioned the Billion Tree Tsunami [project] but there is no accountability here. There was open rigging in the Gilgit-Baltistan election. But only the opposition is being pushed to the wall,” she added.

On the protest by the Hazara community in Quetta after the killing of 11 coal miners in Machh, Balochistan, she said that the grieving people had not buried their dead, asking: “Where is your chief minister?” Balochistan is pushed to the wall, she added.

Speaking next, Malik also criticised the arrest of opposition leaders and NAB’s inaction over BRT, Malam Jabba and other cases. “[There is Rs24 billion EOBI [Employees Old-Age Benefits] case, but there is silence, there’s silence on Malam Jabba and BRT cases,” he said, adding that only those people who raised their voices over these issues were being arrested.

He said that the opposition was not afraid of jails and challenged the government to put them behind bars but “at least do something” about controlling price hike, rampant inflation and poverty.

Later, the session was adjourned until Friday.