ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and ex-premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday said that holding elections is the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) irrespective of which political party wants to participate in it or not.
Talking to reporters outside the Accountability Court, he said that whether the PML-N is prepared for the elections or not, holding elections is the job of the ECP. “Holding elections in the country is not the responsibility of the PML-N”, he maintained.
To a question about the ongoing dialogue between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the impasse on elections in the Punjab and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, he said that he had repeatedly said, “There was a consensus on occasions but the PTI was not sincere in the talks”.
“It is very astonishing that the top court of the country is asking political parties to hold talks […] reconciliation is not the job of the courts and the Supreme Court should proceed with whatever decision it wants to take,” he added.
To a question about his claim of over Rs20 billion corruptions in flour distribution in Punjab, he said that “both the federal and Punjab governments should not get angry over his statement as he had talked about the system”.
“There is 30 to 35 percent corruption in the Punjab Food Department since its creation…there is corruption in every department. I am saying with full confidence that more than 25 percent of funds allocated by the Prime Minister [Shehbaz Sharif] under the free flour scheme did not reach the deserving people,” he declared.
He said that the level of corruption that was committed during the PTI’s regime had never happened before in the country. Earlier, he along with his son appeared before Accountability Court judge-I Muhammad Bashir in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case against him and others.
The court adjourned the hearing of the LNG case against former premier Abbasi and others till May 23 after counsels for different accused made partial arguments regarding the jurisdiction of the court. Counsel for co-accused Abdul Samad Dawood, Barrister Samar Masood will continue arguments during the next hearing to be held on May 23.
During the hearing, the defense counsel, while arguing before the court, said that all legal requirements had been fulfilled during the approval of the project. Despite fulfilling all legal formalities the name of respectable people had been included by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the reference, he said.
He said that the federal cabinet had approved the import of LNG. The Chairman of Port Qasim Authority was not appointed by former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the lawyer said, adding that the approval of Agha Jan Akhtar was made through the Cabinet Secretariat, he said.
The NAB, on December 4, 2019, filed an LNG case before the Accountability Court. Those who are nominated in the reference for allegedly misusing their authority included Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, former managing director (MD) Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Sheikh Imranul Haque, Agha Jan Akhtar, former chairman Port Qasim Authority (PQA), and Saeed Ahmed Khan, former chairman Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Aamir Naseem, former member oil Ogra, Uzma Adil Khan, chairperson Ogra, Shahid M Islam, former MD PSO, and Abdul Samad Dawood.
The bureau on August 6, 2020, filed a supplementary reference against former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others, in connection with the LNG case.
The bureau has nominated Abbasi, Abdul Khaqan Abbasi son of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, former MD PSO Sheikh Imranul Haque, Agha Jan Akhtar, former chairman PQA, and Saeed Ahmed Khan, former chairman Ogra, in the supplementary reference.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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