Govt won’t allow Shehbaz to run away, says Akbar

Fawad Chaudhry says court proceedings of ‘high profile corruption cases’ should be aired live on TV

Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Shehzad Akbar has hit back at Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif saying come what may the government will not let him run away from the country.

He said this while addressing a press conference, flanked by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, in Islamabad on Monday.

“Shehbaz Sharif is facing very serious charges of corruption… with strong evidence presented before the court,” he said.

“Don’t try to escape to London. No matter how much you [Shehbaz] try, the government will not let you leave the country,” warned Akbar.

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His statement comes in response to Shehbaz Sharif’s news conference held earlier in the day wherein he claimed that the “NAB-Niazi” nexus had failed to prove even a single penny of corruption against the PML-N leaders.

Shehbaz said due to incompetence of Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government, the country had been facing prolonged power outages. “We saved Rs250 billion in energy projects and ended [power] loadshedding from the country during our tenure.”

Akbar, in response, also claimed that Shehbaz’s family assets increased by seven billion rupees due to money laundering. He urged Shehbaz to respond to corruption allegations instead of making hue and cry over the accountability process.

Live broadcast of cases

Speaking on the occasion, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the proceedings of high profile corruption cases should be allowed to telecast live on national television.

“We appeal Chief Justice of Pakistan [Justice Gulzar Ahmed] to allow live broadcast of high profile corruption cases,” Fawad said.

The minister said National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had recovered a total of Rs427 billion in corruption cases with Rs37 billion being recovered in fake account cases involving former president Asif Ali Zardari alone.

Opposition slammed for 'abandoning' AJK poll campaign midway

Taking a jibe at opposition parties, Fawad said a frustrated Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari abandoned the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) election campaign midway and Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz would soon follow suit.

"PML-N leader's frustration evident since she had no narrative as indicated by her senseless and frivolous speeches... her party failed to field candidates in all the constituencies," he added.

All such factors, he said, would eventually force Maryam to leave the field, thus giving an upper hand to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Out of frustration, the PML-N was already making a hue and cry over what they called "rigging" in the AJK Legislative Assembly polls, he added

Fawad said the PML-N leader did not know the exact number of wars, Pakistan and India fought on the Kashmir issue.

He said the PTI's election campaign was robust and it would beat both the parties, which even could not manage to field the required number of candidates in the AJK electoral arena.

He said Shehbaz Sharif, during his press conference today, played up the power and gas issues instead of explaining his position on allegations of corruption.

Fawad said that Shehbaz should have responded to the queries about the laundering of Rs25 billion abroad on forged documents but he kept narrating his tale about building Metro in Punjab.

"When questioned about billions of rupees transferred to his accounts, Shehbaz said he had served the Punjab province," the minister added.

Fawad said that both the PPP and the PML-N had one similarity that the funds given to them by the centre for the development of Sindh and Punjab were found in London.

"Some of the properties of former rulers were exposed through the Panama Papers scandal, and many more were yet to be unearthed," he added.

Talking about Afghanistan, the information minister said that Pakistan had been keenly monitoring the fast-changing situation in the neighbouring country and the entire world had lauded its efforts for durable peace there. "Pakistan was in contact with all Afghan parties and made full efforts for the creation of a peaceful and all-encompassing government in Kabul," he added.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had unequivocally declared that Pakistan would be a partner of the United States in the peace efforts, but not conflict.

He said that in the past, Pakistan had an open border with Afghanistan, which had now been fenced, and in case of new refugees, appropriate steps would be initiated to handle the influx in a systematic manner.

(With input from APP)