Memon’s claim: Maryam seeks judicial probe

PML-N leader says Prime Minister Imran Khan is acting like mafia boss

ISLAMABAD:

PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz has called for the formation of a judicial commission to probe into the allegation that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his aides tried to pressure the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) former director general to register a case against apex court judge Qazi Fazi Isa.

“A conspiracy was hatched against Justice Isa in the Prime Minister House. I demand that a judicial commission be formed to probe into the allegations leveled against the PM and his aides.

“You [the PM] urged [the FIA] to arrest a sitting judge. This is a serious matter. The PML-N will not let this matter die down.  I request the court to look into the matter,” Maryam said while speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday afternoon.

The PML-N leader was referring to an interview of FIA former director general Bashir Memon aired by a private new channel on Tuesday.

In the interview, Memon claimed that PM Imran Khan as well as Minister for Law Dr Farogh Naseem and Adviser to the PM on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar had asked him to start an investigation against Justice Qazi Faez Isa – a request that he squarely rejected.

Launching a fresh tirade against the PTI government, Maryam referred to Prime Minister Imran Khan as a “terrorist”, accusing him of using institutions to threaten opposition leaders and put them behind bars.

"Not even gangs and mafias commit the acts that are being committed from the Prime Minister House.

"Never in the [country's] history have such heinous crimes been committed from inside the PM House," she said, adding that, "Chiefs of institutions are summoned and asked to frame cases [against opposition leaders and judges]."

Maryam went on to add that institutions were being used for political engineering. "Now", she said, "people understand what mafias or gangs really are". She said it was unbecoming of a state's head to issue orders for someone's arrest as if he were a gang leader.

Read PTI lawmakers desperate to jump ship: Maryam

Maryam lauded Justice Isa for "fighting back conspiracies", observing that the rulers "achieved nothing but defeat". She also demanded formation of a judicial commission to "investigate the conspiracy of filing a fake reference against the SC judge."

The federal government in May 2019 moved a presidential reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), claiming that Justice Isa had committed misconduct by not disclosing his family member’s foreign assets in his wealth statement.

Justice Isa challenged the SJC proceedings and the apex court on June 19, 2020 quashed the reference but referred the matter to the Federal Board of Revenue for an inquiry. The judge filed a review petition against the order and the apex court in a rare development set aside its June 19 order on April 26.

The PML-N vice president claimed that Imran Khan came into power by stealing votes and now Pakistan is dealing with the miseries of lawlessness and unemployment.

Pakistani passports and flights, Maryam added, are being banned. "There are piles of garbage in cities; there's no such thing as governance in the country," she added.

The PML-N leader said Imran Khan has failed, adding that, "The sooner the country gets rid of this government, the better." Concluding, she said: "This is the fight of the people for their rights and to rid themselves of an ineligible and enforced government."

Separately, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif also issued a statement, claiming that the revelations of the FIA former chief had vindicated his stance that there is a nexus between the government and the top graft buster, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“I demand that an investigation be launched into the allegations leveled by Bashir Memon and the culprits should be brought to book,” he added.