Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Saeed Mehdi on Monday set an example for others when he resigned from his office following inclusion of his name in the list of beneficiaries of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has accepted resignation of Saeed Mehdi.
Shahbaz said during the party meeting that Saeed Mehdi by quitting his office proved his positive approach. Sources told Business Recorder that Saeed Mehdi tendered his resignation to PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif during the party re-organisation meeting held at 90-Shahrah Quaid-e-Azam. The meeting was attended, among others, by Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Javed Hashmi, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Ahsan Iqbal, Ishaq Dar, Khwaja Mohammad Asif, Chaudhry Jaffer Iqbal attended the meeting.
The sources said that the meeting apart from discussing party's re-organisational affairs also discussed situation arising out after release of the list of beneficiaries of NRO. There was consensus among the participants of the meeting that beneficiaries of NRO must step down voluntarily to face the cases in the courts, the sources said.
There was also a demand in the meeting that the list of those, who got their loans written off, must also be made public by the government, the sources added. A senior party leader said that time had come for taking back money from those, who plundered the national wealth at the cost of country as well as it people.
It may be noted that Saeed Mehdi is considered close aide of Nawaz Sharif. He was Principal Secretary to Nawaz Sharif during his tenure as prime minister. In his resignation, Saeed Mehdi stated that he never indulged in corruption nor he took advantage under the NRO. He claimed that his name was included maliciously, therefore, he was quitting from the office of advisorship as moral obligation.
Mehdi said he would not accept any official designation till clearance of his name from the court. Mehdi said: "My name has been erroneously included in the list of beneficiaries of NRO. Polo ground case was never tried since my arrest in it on April 7, 2000, which means that the case remained dormant for almost nine years.
"I never made any application for seeking relief under the NRO nor am I a signatory to any application having been made by any other accused of this case. Therefore, in the interest of justice, I presume that the Ministry of Law shall issue a clarification when my application reaches them in this regard.
"I am the only accused in this case who had been granted bail by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on October 2, 2001 after having spent full two years in confinement, including one-and-a-half month in communicator detention and two months even after my acquittal in the assets reference in August 2001 without initiation of any trial," he said. He further said this case was politically motivated by Musharraf regime to pressurise him. "When I refused to become an approver against Asif Ali Zardari, my name was put as a co-accused.
"Further, taking any benefit from the NRO means that a person has been punished or convicted and by seeking relief under the NRO, his punishment is condoned or set aside. In my case, this question does not arise because I have never been convicted in the polo ground case (or for that matter, by God Grace, in any other case as well) nor trial of this case ever commenced," he said.
He said: "Out of my free will, I have decided to tender my resignation from the office of the Advisor to the Chief Minister, Punjab, on account of the fact that I personally do not agree with the NRO and I am prepared to face my case regarding the polo ground in the court of competent jurisdiction," he said.
"I feel the case does not carry any strength nor I have any role in it. Yet I intend to face the trial without holding any public office so that it may not be construed that I intend to derive any benefit from my official position. And it is also in line with the stance and policy of my party's leadership," he concluded.