ECP should disqualify the Sharifs: Rehman Malik

Cites alleged unscrupulous dealings of PML-N top leaders.

LAHORE:

Former interior minister Rehman Malik called upon the election commission on Saturday to disqualify Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders, Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif, under Articles 62 and 63.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Malik declared that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would shortly expose the Sharif brothers’ constitutional violations.

He said it was ironic how Nawaz and Shahbaz made a racket over a ‘minor’ National Accountability Bureau (NAB) letter that points out the status of three corruption references against them, whereas they appreciated the PPP’s courage with which it faced the judiciary during its five-year tenure.

Malik referenced the NAB Act that disqualifies plea bargainers from contesting elections. However, despite this, the Sharifs went to Saudi Arabia during Musharraf’s coup under an agreement. Furthermore, they lied about the 10-year pact with Musharraf, related to the stay in Saudi Arabia, and could not issue a rebuttal once a copy was leaked to parliament.

At this point, Malik also reminded the media how Nawaz backed out of the Charter of Democracy, a contract he signed with Benazir Bhutto.

In the same vein, Malik accused the Sharif brothers of concealing facts about where they managed to obtain Rs30 million, which they used to get their sealed property, at Raiwind, released. That amount was never shown on tax return papers.

Furthermore, Malik, in the past, sent in a reference of Rs3.4 billion against the Sharifs to NAB, questioning how the Sharif family acquired hundreds of acres of land in Jati Umrah. Unfortunately, the brothers managed to quash the inquiries.

In these ways, he said, they were dishonest to the people of Pakistan, violating articles 62 and 63.

In a personal dig, Malik said that although constitutional clauses only permit four marriages, he knew, from 24 years of work experience at the Federal Investigation Agency, that Shahbaz Sharif had been married more times than that.

He also questioned why the issues of dual nationality and Ziaul Haq’s provisions were being taken up this time, when they were ignored during the 2002 polls. At this, he apologised to the people that parliament has failed to remove Zia’s articles from the constitution.

According to the former interior minister, this press conference served as a bold reply to Shahbaz’s media briefing earlier in the week. It also marked the start of PPP’s election campaign in Lahore.

During the proceedings, Malik appealed to the party workers to join him in exposing the ‘reality’ of the Sharif brothers. Soon, he said, the jiyalas would convey all of Nawaz’s and Shahbaz’s constitutional violations to the public.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2013.