Pakistan Peoples' Party Parliamentarians on Friday charged that the issuance of arrest warrants of Benazir Bhutto and her spouse was a ploy to divert the masses' attention from spiralling prices of daily use items, growing unemployment, the aftermath of Nawab Akbar Bugti's killing and poor law and order.
PPPP dubbed the National Accountability Bureau as a political wing of the general headquarters, saying its sole aim was to target political opponents and weaken political forces.
Speaking at a joint news conference here at the Parliament cafeteria, party leaders MNAs Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Naheed Khan and Senator Enver Baig believed that the bureau's functioning was earning the country a bad name abroad. The lawmakers were of the view that through fake and concocted stories, popularity of their leaders could in no way be dampened.
They said that it was a failed attempt by the rulers to divert the people's attention from burning issues, threatening not only parliamentary democracy but also the federation.
Senator Baig alleged that NAB chief was serving as a GHQ tool and demanded his immediate replacement with a retired Supreme Court judge duly approved by the Parliament. He charged that NAB had taken no action against mega scandals such as the stock market crashes, sugar and cement crises and Crescent Bank and Islamic Investment Bank issues.
PPPP leaders assailed the government for political victimisation of Benazir Bhutto and her spouse, and the issuance of their arrest warrants by an Islamabad court on the basis of details of former premier's alleged mis-declaration of assets in 1993.
"The bureau's only task is the politicians' arm-twisting and hounding them. It has lost its utility despite wasting billions of rupees of the national exchequer in involving popular leadership in corruption," Raja Pervaiz said.
He contended that the appointment of generals to head the bureau had been causing cleavage between the masses and the military. "It is the political parties that have held together the Federation, whereas the military dictators have always resorted to measures against it," he alleged.
Raja Pervaiz maintained that both leaders are represented by their lawyers and they have been absolved of any wrongdoing in SGS, PIA and other cases, questioning the legality of the warrants. Ex-political secretary of Benazir Bhutto, MNA Naheed Khan said that as earlier, the NAB would again fail to prove anything wrong against the party leadership.
She recalled that only the Election Commission's returning officer at Larkana could have looked into the issue, suspecting mis-declaration of assets and the courts had nothing to do with it.
"We framed as many as 38 charges of corruption against the prime minister and he could not respond to any of them, even his own party lawmaker Ahmed Alam Anwar wrote a letter to him expressing his dissatisfaction over the premier's speech in the National Assembly," she said.
Naheed Khan pointed out that they had filed a number of adjournment motions about alleged corruption of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and others, but these were yet to be taken up.
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