LAHORE: Terming the much-hyped Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) hosted multiparty conference (MPC) in which former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former President Asif Ali Zardari virtually participated as the alliance of "corrupt elites" against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government to save their looted money, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communications Dr Shahbaz Gill has claimed that the government will never strike a deal or give any NRO like concession to the "corrupt elements".

The SAPM stated this while addressing a press conference here on Sunday. He claimed that the opposition parties describe FATF-related legislations as "black laws" but in reality these laws will be lifeline for Pakistan. "They (the opposition parties) do not want money laundering to be declared as cognizable offence in the FATF legislations because they are direct beneficiaries," he alleged.

Explaining why the opposition parties remained reluctant to help the government in passing the FATF laws in the National Assembly recently, the SAPM claimed: "The manifesto of the leadership of this "Loot Maar Association" is actually based on fake documents, fake evidence and fake witnesses, fake Calibri Fonts, fake Qatri-letters, fake illness and fake politics."

"Maulvi Nawaz Sharif actually wants to do politics of Maulvi Zia-ul-Haq," he claimed, adding that we may have so many differences with the military dictator Zia but there was no "allegation" of "financial corruption" on him. He asserted that the opposition parties are afraid of the accountability process and that is why they called five MPCs in two years of the PTI.

He said Nawaz Sharif made 16 offshore companies under the names of his children by investing $4.2 billion. Similarly, the entire Nawaz Sharif family is involved in money laundering of Rs 410 in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, Gill alleged. "There are a lot of corruption cases against the Sharif family as well."

Talking about the PPP, the SAPM said that ex-President Asif Zardari is allegedly involved in money laundering of Rs 35 billion followed by money laundering of Rs 462 billion by Dr Asim Hussain, Rs 5 billion by Sharjeel Memon, Rs 1.61 billion by Agha Siraj Durrani, Rs 82 billion by Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and over Rs 500 billion by PPP senior leader Syed Khursheed Shah.

Gill also strongly castigated the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam Fazal (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazal-ul-Rehman for using children of different seminaries in achieving political agendas. He said the "maulana" is used for getting "rent-a-crowd".

He said both the PML-N and the PPP had created NAB and over 95 percent cases against these parties were made during each other's tenures. "However, whenever the process of accountability started, the leaders of both these parties signed deals and left the country," he added.

The SAPM continued that since Prime Minister Imran Khan decided, in principle, not to give NRO like concession to both these parties, they are now trying to pressurize the government by holding five MPCs in two years. "It is our clear message to the opposition parties that no NRO would be given to them even though they hold many more MPCs," he clarified.

About the two-year performance of the ruling PTI, Shahbaz claimed that when they assumed power they needed 31 billion US dollars to run the economy during the first year. "Of them, $11 billion were required to pay installments of debts taken by the previous PML-N regime. The PTI had not taken any loan for its own projects. The country was at the verge of bankruptcy when we came into power," he claimed.

The SAPM said the first year passed while figuring out how to "pull out" the country from economic crisis created by the PML-N. The second year spent in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, he added. He also talked about how a "group of people" tried to create chaos in during the pandemic and how the government responded to their "ill-intentioned" efforts and supported the poor segment of society.

"In the two years of the PTI, Prime Minister Imran Khan learned how to "play" and take decisions in "pressure". Those leaders who sustain pressure during hard times are remembered forever," he said, adding that the way the Covid-19 crisis is vanishing it is the blessings of the Almighty Allah.

According to Gill, the PTI under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan provided "real-time" relief to deserving people under the Ehsas Programme. Under this initiative, the deserving people were provided relief without checking their political affiliations, he added.

"Another milestone that the PTI government achieved during the two years is the revival of Afghan peace process and the speech in of the prime minister in the United States in which he had demanded equal treatment from the international community instead of aid," Shahbaz said.

He added that the establishment of Panah Gahs home for shelter-less people - is another big achievement of the PTI government with regards to uplifting and catering to the needs of the poor segment. Moreover, the SAPM said the recently-inaugurated River Ravi project in Lahore is unlikely to be completed during the PTI's tenure, but the government would strive hard to finish a large part of it.

While responding to media queries regarding the accountability process, the SAPM said the responsibility of the government is to provide conducive environment within the laid down laws. While trying to shift blame on the media for Nawaz Sharif's sending to London, Gill said media channels extensively reported that if the former premier was not sent abroad, he may die. To another query, he said the government is going to increase the support price of wheat.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020