ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday, while responding to the reaction of opposition coalition, PDM, to the arrest of the PML-N leader Khawaja Asif, said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is an independent institution which cannot be stopped from carrying out accountability.

The foreign minister was holding a news conference along with Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and Information and Broadcasting Minister Shibli Faraz.

Qureshi categorically said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would not resign on January 31st under any circumstances.

While responding to threats of resignations and a ‘long march’ by the opposition coalition, PDM, he said the opposition must come up with their ‘clear’ agenda.

Qureshi clarified that the NAB should not be linked with the PTI government as it was an independent and sovereign body, headed by a chairman appointed by the previous government and operating under a law also prepared by previous governments.

"No one is above the law," he added.

He said Opposition leaders have failed to justify their wealth. Khawaja Asif should prove his innocence instead of “playing politics”, he added.

Qureshi said Asif was given an opportunity to respond to the NAB’s queries multiple times, which he could not avail to satisfy NAB by providing a money trail.

He said the properties about which questions had been raised could not be answered by anyone else, but by him alone.

He said he was surprised at the time when the PTI government was consulting “those two parties” (the PML-N and the PPP) over a FATF legislation, they wanted amendment in the NAB law.

He said he often used to wonder what could be the link between the FATF and the NAB law.

“The facts started becoming clearer as to why the opposition had been linking its support to the FATF legislation with the abolition of 34 out of 38 clauses in the NAB law, after the arrest of Khawaja Asif,” he added. “They were using FATF as shield to amend the NAB law,” the foreign minister remarked.

He said he had to take up the matter to the National Assembly where he was told that the opposition wanted amendments in the NAB law, otherwise, they would not attend meetings on FATF.

He said Khawaja Asif had also been attending these meetings.

He said despite the government’s efforts to delink the proposed amendments to the NAB law with the FATF legislation, the opposition was adamant to link their support to acceptance of their demand.

He said “things started becoming clear after the cases of money laundering against opposition leaders, and that was why they were seeking an ‘NRO’ from the government.”

“NRO is name of relief. It was a programme to save their skin and seek deliverance,” he added.

He said when the NAB sought explanation from JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, his supporters “misbehaved by saying how the NAB could dare call their leader to explain his assets.”

He recalled that Imran Khan never declared himself above the law, when he was asked to proves his assets rather he produced even decades’ old documentary evidences in his defence. The opposition should also follow the same course and provide money trails, he added. He said they need to stop hiding behind the excuse of “political vendetta” and face accountability.

Further targeting the opposition, the foreign minister added that the PDM alliance is “unnatural,” and is destined to disintegrate.

Babar Awan said iqamah has been misused by politicians like Nawaz Sharif and Khawaja Asif in the past.

He explained that the iqamah was granted to those that worked abroad, but politicians were using it to launder their money.

Awan said Pakistan is an “unfortunate country” from where billions were stolen and stashed abroad.

He alleged that Khawaja Asif sent 100 million rupees out of the country in the name of illegal business of rice and brought that money back to the country by legalising it.

Adding to this, Faraz stated that, “unfortunately, state institutions were used for political gains in the past.” He further said that a Senate session has been called on the requisition of the opposition.

“We will ask them the same questions in the Senate tomorrow, and the nation can see their response through a live session,” he said.

To a question, the foreign minister said the government was ready to talk to the opposition any issue, except on the NRO and the NAB law at a parliamentary forum.

He said the PDM was shattered following the PPP’s decision on Tuesday. However, he questioned if PPP wanted to quit assemblies, why they decided to take part in by-polls.

Moreover, the seriousness of the PML-N regarding resignations was also exposed when the National Assembly speaker called two of their members to verify their resignations submitted with the NA Secretariat, and they refused to appear. “They are just giving false hopes to people. PDM should find out as who had actually cheated them,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020