Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif Monday demanded resignation of chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over his controversial interview to a media outlet in which he accused political parties, including ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), of seeking favours in cases against their respective leadership. Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, Shahbaz said that the NAB chairman should be summoned in the Parliament and grilled over the recent interview, or else Parliament's legal position would deem to be compromised.
He also rejected the allegation levelled against him by the NAB chairman for seeking a deal to end the corruption cases against him. He termed the allegation completely baseless, saying he has neither met the NAB chairman nor sent him any message through someone else. "If the NAB chairman proves his claims and places them before the parliament and the nation, I'll quit politics. If he fails, he must step down," he added.
He demanded the National Assembly speaker to issue production orders for Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari, who was arrested by the NAB in fake bank accounts cases on Monday. Sharif said that there was no reason for NAB to arrest Zardari as he has been appearing before the top anti-graft body to answer their questions, besides appearing before the courts for case proceedings.
"I request the speaker on behalf of my party and all other opposition parties to immediately issue production orders for Zardari like you [Speaker] did in my and Khawaja Saad Rafique's cases," he added. Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry expressed surprise at Sharif's statement regarding the cancellation of Zardari's bail and said: "I thought Shehbaz Sharif will take the credit of Zardari's arrest as the investigations in the case were started in 2015 when the PML-N was in power. The then interior minister - Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan - had boasted that the PML-N government had discovered these bank accounts." Fawad recalled in response to a remarks made by Sharif who said Chaudhry is in shock after losing the information ministry.
The opposition leader also criticised the Prime Minister for his tweet in which he congratulated minister for power for ending the load-shedding in the country, saying the claim made by the Prime Minister is the biggest lie of the centaury. On this, the NA Speaker Asad Qaiser said that he did not witness any load-shedding in the recently passed Ramazan unlike the previous one. To this, Sharif said his government had set up four power plants of 5000MW at the lowest cost, which helped in ending the load-shedding.
Responding to the opposition leader, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that PTI government is not standing on the crutches of NAB, adding the anti-graft body should go for an across the board accountability. He said that the PML-N government did produce 11000MW electricity but it failed to address transmission and line losses and power theft, which PTI government addressed and made recovery of Rs 81 billion.
Later, the House witnessed scenes of chaos as opposition members belonging to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) surrounded the speaker's dais, chanting slogans against the government to give floor to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari instead of Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid. But Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri did not listen to the PPP MNAs, saying he would give the floor to Bilawal after Sheikh Rashid.
Bilawal arrived in the assembly after the arrest of his father Asif Ali Zardari, after which the opposition demanded that he be allowed to speak first. A visibly perturbed Suri continued to tell the protesting MNAs to return to their seats and warned that he would not succumb to any pressure. The deputy speaker said that he had given the floor to the railways minister because the latter wanted to respond to opposition leader, who had named him in his speech earlier.
"Do you want me to adjourn the House like I did in last session," asked Suri. He then addressed Bilawal directly, assuring him that he would be allowed to speak for as long as he wants if the protesting members return to their seats, but Bilawal did not call back his MNAs. "If I am not allowed to speak, I will not let Bilawal speak either," warned Rashid amid sloganeering by PPP MNAs against him. As the commotion showed no signs of letting up, Suri adjourned the National Assembly proceedings till Tuesday at 5pm.
Before the NAB team arrested Zardari from his F-8 residence, PPP MNAs Raja Pervez Ashraf and Shazia Marri demanded the NA Speaker to ensure his presence in the house, but he did not pay any heed to their demands. Earlier speaking on the floor of the House, Asad Umar of PTI said that the foreign direct investment was $7 billion while China made $4 billion during the five years tenure of PML-N.
"When a general is questioned for corruption, the military's credibility is put at stake, when the judges are questioned, the judiciary's independence is compromised, when the clerics are questioned, the religion becomes an issue, and when the politicians are grilled, the democracy comes under threat, etc. These are no excuses and there should be accountability for all," he maintained.
Talking to journalists outside the Parliament, Shahbaz Sharif said that an anti-government strategy would be announced soon after consulting all opposition political parties. He said that results of his all tests are negative. However, he said that the medics in London suggested physiotherapy for backache, which is continued.
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