Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said that causing damages to public and private properties amounted to terrorist acts, warning that these “terrorist and anti-state elements” would be dealt with sternly.
In a televised address to the nation, Shehbaz said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan legally, and on the charges of corruption and corrupt practice.
“The rule of law means facing all the cases legally. Causing damages to public and private properties amounts to terrorist acts,” Shehbaz said.
The prime minister addressed the nation a day after the arrest of former prime minister Imran that prompted violent protests across the country. The protests also continued on Wednesday. So far, seven people died while several others sustained injuries.
Shehbaz stressed that Imran was arrested legally on charges of corruption and corrupt practice in the Al-Qadir Trust case, involving a whopping amount of Rs60 billion (equivalent to £190 million).
The prime minister added that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also termed Imran Niazi’s arrest legal, observing that NAB acted in accordance with the law.
While referring to the violent spree across the country, inflicting severe damages, Shehbaz warned that the miscreants would be dealt with sternly.
He said that the government foiled their nefarious designs.
“These terrorist and anti-state elements are being warned to desist from taking law into their hands, otherwise they will be dealt with an iron hand. Safeguarding the motherland and its ideology is more precious than their lives,” he said.
“We will not let their nefarious designs succeed,” he maintained. Advising the PTI chairman to face NAB cases legally, he stressed: “All are equal before the law; these are the Islamic teachings and the beauty of democracy.”
Shehbaz said that the country’s past political history was very unpleasant, as it was based on vendetta, which never yielded good results. Therefore, he added, the political parties learned from those experiences and agreed to the ‘Charter of Democracy’.
Under the same passion, Shehbaz said, the coalition took over the responsibilities of the government on April 11 last year, yet it did not adopt the vengeance-based approach, as compared to Imran’s government.
Read Court grants eight-day physical remand of Imran in Al-Qadir Trust case
He said that during the PTI government, the former ministers used to announce that a specific political leader would be arrested on a particular day, while Imran also kept on announcing that a wicket from the opposition side would fall soon.
“Almost all the leaders, now sitting in the first two rows of the National Assembly, were sent to jails on false charges and there was no one in the previous regime of the PTI to take notice of it,” he said.
“Their sisters, daughters, sons and even relatives were not spared in pursuance of blind vengeance,” he said. “Rana Sanaullah was arrested on concocted charges of carrying 15 kilogrammes of heroin, which was a black day in the history of Pakistan.”
He said that this victimisation of political opponents badly hampered national development. He stressed that the government adopted a national approach with responsibility.
“Due to the countrywide demands, concerns, and serious apprehensions of the bureaucracy and the business community, the government brought amendments to NAB laws,” he added.
In the past, the prime minister said, when they were in the opposition and demanded necessary amendments to NAB laws, their genuine demands were spurned by the PTI leadership, accusing them of seeking an NRO – political amnesty.
The prime minister explained that in the previous NAB law, an accused used to be remanded for 90 days, but after the amendment, that period had been reduced to 15 days only.
He stressed that the amendment to reduce the remand period was in accordance with the contemporary laws and under various court observations. “The first beneficiary of that amendment is now Imran Niazi,” the prime minister said.
Shehbaz said that they were still facing NAB cases, though none of them had been proved yet. “We faced all cases and never budged from facing courts despite our strong apprehensions and objections.”
The prime minister also mentioned the proceedings in the United Kingdom, saying that the PTI government had prompted an investigation against him, but the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK gave him a clean chit.
“The thrice-elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, along with his daughter, had appeared more than a 100 times in NAB cases and even went to jail, while holding the hands of his daughter, after the death of his spouse,” the prime minister maintained.
Recollecting the death of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007, Shehbaz said that the PPP leadership and workers faced the tragedy with patience and utter display of exemplary patriotism, which would be remembered for long.
Particularly, former president Asif Ali Zardari, who raised the slogan of “Pakistan Khappay” (we want Pakistan), which frustrated the enemy designs and took the country to the path of democracy and progress, he added.
On the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, the prime minister said it was strange how a federal cabinet could approve a huge amount related to the national kitty without opening an envelope. “The [previous] cabinet members were kept in the dark,” he opined.
He questioned whether such an attitude was permitted in the religious teachings, existing laws and the democratic system that an accused should refuse to face the court of law.
He said such a situation was an unpleasant moment in one’s life but from such trials, the real character of the leadership emerged, which should advise their followers not to cross the laws and protect public and private properties.
The prime minister said it was the most sombre and sad moment in the country’s history when the PTI supporters caused severe damage to the public and private properties. “Such a spectacle has never been witnessed in the last 75 years,” he continued.
“The people were made hostages in their vehicles, patients were taken out of the ambulances and later, those vehicles were torched. The Swat Motorway was damaged and the government officials were tortured,” the prime minister pointed out.
“A few elements were instigated against the armed forces, who showed disrespect for their Shuhada (martyrs),” he added. “The vicious campaign is still continuing. The harm the enemy could not cause in the last 75 years, these terrorists and enemies of the land are inflicting now,” he regretted.
The prime minister also lauded the law enforcement agencies for their role in safeguarding the lives and properties of the general public who refused to be beguiled with the PTI’s violent tactics.
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