PM was not happy with Shahzad Akbar’s performance, reveals Rashid

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has for the first time publicly admitted that Prime Minister Imran Khan was not happy with the performance of Shahzad Akbar, who abruptly stepped down from the post of adviser to PM on accountability and interior earlier this week.

In an interview with BBC Urdu on Thursday, the interior minister while responding to a question said Akbar’s failure to bring back former premier Nawaz Sharif from London was not only the reason for his departure from the federal cabinet.

“He could not recover [plundered] wealth... only Shehbaz Sharif [PML-N president] is facing a money laundering case of worth Rs16 billion but we could not even recover that [amount],” Rashid said.

Speaking about the ruling PTI’s anti-corruption drive, he said PM Imran is adamant about eradicating grafts from the country and sacked many members from his party and the government’s positions over corruption allegations.

“Imran Khan can't do more than that," he added.

Rashid said people voted for Imran Khan to hold the “corrupt and plunderers” accountable but admitted that due to some “weaknesses” the ruling PTI could not fulfil his pre-election promise.

The government, he also said, is making efforts to sign extradition treaties with other countries, especially the UK to bring back those wanted by courts and other criminals.

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The federal minister added that the government is also making efforts for the extradition of Nawaz Sharif while admitting granting him rare permission to fly abroad in 2019 was the government’s fault.

“We sent him [Nawaz Sharif] ourselves, it is our fault. They managed to throw dust in everyone's eyes and escaped,” he remarked.

On Wednesday, PM Imran claimed that he had already fulfilled his pre-election promise of eradicating corruption from the country in 90 days within the stipulated time after coming into power.

A day after Pakistan slipped down on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2021, Premier Imran said that no scandal of financial corruption emerged during the incumbent government’s tenure, whereas scandals like Panama Papers surfaced during previous government’s rule.

“The promise to end corruption in 90 days has already been fulfilled,” a party leader, who wishes not to be named, quoted the prime minister as saying, while addressing a meeting of the spokespersons for the ruling party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).