Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday alleged that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is not a political party as it has always adopted dictators' policies, saying it was painful for him to see that Pakistan People's Party (PPP) supported a law made by dictators. Sharif said this while talking to journalists after attending the proceedings of an Accountability Court, which is hearing three corruption references against him.
Sharif while referring to rejection of the Election (Amendment) Bill 2017 by the National Assembly, which sought to restrict a disqualified person from heading a political party, said that he has no complaint against the PTI as it has nothing to do with democracy. "PTI has always adopted the policies of dictators because it is neither a democratic nor a political party," he added.
However, he said what the PPP did on Tuesday by supporting a "black law" hurt him very much. Supporting black law has raised question over the democratic credentials of PPP, he added. Sharif said that the PPP's past struggles and sacrifices for democracy do not match with their present action of supporting an anti-democratic law.
He said now an "overwhelming" majority of parliamentarians is not ready to give indemnity to dictators' laws. "Democracy loving people rejected dictators' law at the floor of the House," he said, adding "it is a big development." The former prime minister further said, "Pakistan is a democratic country and here we will ensure restoration of power of democracy and sanctity of vote as country cannot make progress without it."
Earlier, talking to reporters informally inside the courtroom, Sharif said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was not allowed to work properly as the sit-in held by the PTI in 2014 has been continuing in the country in one or another form. Despite continued sit-ins, the country made progress, he claimed. He alleged that judgements against his family are announced quickly and he often wonders when judgements against the PTI leaders will be delivered. "The standards of justice are different for his family from those for others," he said, adding that the "rules of game" should be identical for everyone.
Sharif said that corruption cases are now emerging against the PTI leadership including Imran Khan, Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan. He also alleged that Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak used official vehicles to lead rallies against the federal government during the 2014 sit-in. Earlier, Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz reached the court from Islamabad airport where they arrived from Lahore in a special plane. Sharif's son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) reached Federal Judicial Complex separately. Sharif and his daughter were sitting in the front row.
As soon as Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir started hearing, the counsel for Sharif and Maryam submitted a request, asking the court to change their exemption period which the court had granted during the previous hearing. In his fresh plea the former premier sought exemption from personal appearance before the court from December 5 to December 12 while his daughter requested for exemption from court appearance from December 5, 2017 to January 5, 2018.
The NAB produced four more witnesses before the court. Prosecution witnesses Mohammad Rasheed and Mazhar Raza Khan Bangash, who belong to different law firms, recorded their statements in the Avenfield reference, CFO Chaudhry Sugar Mills Shahbaz Haider recorded his statement in Flagship reference while Malik Tayyab, a banker, recorded his statement in the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment reference. Following the recording of statements of witnesses by the court, Sharif's counsel Khawaja Harris cross-examined them.
Rasheed in his statement said that he had received a letter from NAB Lahore on September 5, 2017. He said that he appeared before the NAB investigators in Lahore on September 6 and handed over the required documents including a covering letter, an affidavit and court's order to the investigating officer. NAB Prosecutor Afzal Qureshi exchanged hot words with Khawaja Harris as the former accused the latter of trying to confuse the witness. Harris objected to, what he called, unnecessary intervention by the NAB prosecutor.
Harris asked Rasheed, "Do you any personal connection with the documents that you have provided to NAB investigators?" To this, the prosecution witness said he had no personal connection with the documents he had submitted. Mazhar Raza Khan Bangash while recording his statement said he appeared before NAB Lahore on August 30 and the investigator, Imran showed him some photocopies of documents including an affidavit and court's order of Queen's Bench. To a question of defense counsel, the witness said that he could not comment or give his opinion on the court's order.
Harris said, "This is your document and you have to prove it." To this, the NAB prosecutor said, "We will prove it." At this point, Harris told the witness it is easy to speak the truth but telling a lie is difficult. To this, NAB prosecutor said that it is inappropriate to call a witness a liar before the court.
Shahbaz Chaudhry said he had recently taken up the CFO's position at the mills, therefore, the documents presented by NAB regarding the mills were neither prepared by him nor did they carry his signature. The fourth witness, Tayyab, an employee of a private bank, confirmed that the documents pertaining to Nawaz Sharif's five bank accounts were prepared by him and they carried his signature. He further said that three of those accounts were in foreign currencies - US dollars, British pounds and euros.
Harris objected that documents presented by Tayyab had not been provided to him prior to the witness' statement; to which the court ordered that the copies of the documents should be provided to the lawyer. The court after recording the statements of prosecution witnesses and cross-examination by the defense counsel adjourned the hearing of the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment reference till November 27 while the proceedings in the Avenfield and Flagship references were adjourned till November 28.
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