Govt urges CJs to live broadcast Sharifs corruption trials

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry requests judges to hear Sharifs’ cases on a daily basis

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Monday urged the chief justices of the country to consider holding corruption trials of the Sharif family on daily basis and broadcast them in order to acquaint the people with the details of the evidence so as to be able to make up their minds.

The unusual demand from the government has come a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan blasted the Sharif family by refusing to accept the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif as the opposition leader, dubbed him a ‘criminal’ and challenged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan.

“Shehbaz Sharif’s case should be aired live,” Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad demanded. “Install cameras in the courtroom and let people see what kind of case he is facing.”

LIVE #APPNews : Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting @fawadchaudhry addressing conference #Islamabad https://t.co/CtJ7YcXrRp

— APP 🇵🇰 (@appcsocialmedia) January 24, 2022

The minister emphasised that people should see how billion of rupees went to “patwaris, peons and agents of Shehbaz Sharif" and requested the chief justices to hear cases on daily basis.

“Acquit them if they haven’t looted the money or punish them if they have looted the money. The money does not belong to their father, it's the nation’s money,” Fawad said, adding “they make a palace even before their children are born”.

'Attacks on judiciary'

Under the current situation, the information minister suggested, the courts should decide cases without any fear.

Commenting on the ex-judge of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim, Fawad said that PML-N has a history of allegedly attacking the courts, alleging that their strategy was still the same: “either buy or intimidate”.

Also read: AGP asks Shehbaz to provide Nawaz's medical reports within 10 days

Commenting further on the matter, Fawad said that the Sharif family has not yet refuted the allegation that the ex-judge had signed the affidavit in the presence of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif at one of its offices.

“It’s a fit case. The court should implicate and sentence Nawaz Sharif,” Fawad added, saying Sharif tried to influence the courts to get relief for his daughter. “That is why all these cases should be telecast live so that people could judge the evidence and make their mind,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the minister also referred to a letter the Attorney General for Pakistan wrote to Shehbaz Sharif asking him to explain why he has not yet brought his brother and party's supreme leader back to Pakistan from London despite assuring the Lahore High Court before the departure. “We demand that Shehbaz Sharif should explain why Nawaz Sharif did not return,” he said.

Subsequently, Fawad blasted ex-convicted PM Nawaz Sharif, saying Sharif accepts that the palace where he meets everyone doesn’t belong to him and insists that Pakistani law doesn’t apply to his children. He lamented that Shehbaz also takes the same stance when it comes to his children.

In addition, Fawad said that the nation wants Sharifs and Zardaris to account for the money that they allegedly looted, adding that is why the government urges the courts to let people see if charges against them were correct or incorrect. “If the allegations are incorrect then acquit them,” Fawad said, adding the nation has got fed up and the same was expressed by PM Imran in his interaction with people on Sunday.

He mentioned that Pakistan’s growth rate has reached 5.37 per cent despite the country was battling against Covid-19. He then revealed that the Prime Minister has urged the companies that earned huge profits to increase the salaries of their employees as otherwise, they would continue to be burdened by inflation.

Among other things, Fawad said that powers were devolved from the federal to provincial level through the 18th amendment but never to the district level and that is why a city like Karachi was suffering. “The provincial government is not giving Karachi its due share in resources,” he said, adding t other cities were similarly suffering as they do not get their share.

PM Imran Khan has taken a decision to give an empowered local government system, he said, which will end the debate about how resources should be spent. He added that money will go from the National Finance Commission to the provinces and from there to districts, saying the mayor would run the city he/she would be elected from.

“This is the modern system in New York, London, Paris, Sans Francisco and other modern cities,” he said while regretting that the Sindh government has once again deprived its people of such a system. He added that the Sindh government did not allow its people to get the facility of Sehat Card and Ration Card and now it has not contributed to the LG system.

Subsequently, Fawad criticized the PPP and PML-N for keeping resources to their nominated persons, alleging both the parties created networks of accounts and accumulated money. In the Omni scandal, Fawad said, 5,000 fake accounts were created and people would deposit money in those accounts, adding Rs12 billion have already been recovered.

Also read: Govt to approach LHC for Nawaz’s return

Similarly, Fawad said, ex-CM Punjab Shehbaz Sharif scrapped the local government system and started depositing money in “Shehbaz and the company” accounts.

He gave an example of a peon Malik Maqsooq, who got employed in Ramzan Sugar Mills and Rs4 billion were found in his account. He also named other people as well, saying those people never travelled abroad but sent money in Shehzad and his family members’ accounts. “This is being gotten rid of through an empowered local government,” Fawad said.