ISLAMABAD: Former Senate deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, on Wednesday, expressed his optimism that the chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, will resolve issues among the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the Awami National Party (ANP).

Talking to reporters after appearing before Accountability Court in illegal allotment of plots of Overseas Cooperative Housing Society Limited (OCHSL) (Kidney Hill) case against him and others, he said the thing to quit the PDM started after issuance of show-cause notices to the PPP and the ANP. “No party has the right to issue show-cause to another political party,” he said, adding the decision of issuing show-cause notices to the PPP and the ANP was totally wrong.

“What Maulana Fazlur Rehman said today, if he stated this at the time of issuing of show-cause notices then the parties would not have quit the PDM,” he said, adding that differences emerge among political parties but were resolved through dialogue.

He hoped that Maulana Sahib with his political experience within his party and with other parties would be able to resolve the issue.

He said he did not believe that the PDM had collapsed.

To a question about his move against the NAB, he said he would continue his efforts and said he had visited the house of a deceased senior officer of the Auditor General of Pakistan who committed suicide and met his wife. She assured me that she would accompany him when he would file this case before Human Rights Commission and the European Union, he said.

“Once the senate is back into working we will raise this issue,” he said, adding “eventually we will make legislation about the NAB.”

“NAB had filed the reference against him after passage of two years but even today the anti-graft body failed to produce any evidence with respect to the reference made against him,” he said, adding they sought time to produce evidence.

He said that “today we have challenged the malafide, procedure of the NAB under which it implicate people in fake cases and defame them.”

“The main objective of the NAB is to compel people to do plea bargain and not move to court,” he said.

Mandviwalla said the judges of accountability courts, Supreme Court and High Courts had come to know about the reality of the NAB.

The NAB had destroyed the economy of that country, he said, adding that instead of going after corruption, it started harassment of businessmen and force them to do plea bargain.

Senator Mandviwalla said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and other institutions dealt with people in a civilised way but the NAB was typical narcissist type institution which arrested people without having any proof.

Then ask people to do plea bargain, otherwise, “you will be detained for 90 days,” he said.

He urged that all political parties did something about the NAB in the parliament, otherwise that institution would continue to destroy Pakistan and its economy.

Earlier, he appeared before Accountability Court-I judge Muhammad Bashir in OCHSL (Kidney Hill) case against him and others.

The court, during the previous hearing, had fixed April 14 for the accused indictment but it deferred the indictment after Mandviwalla’s counsel filed an application seeking to reject the reference.

The other accused in the case, Nadeem Hakeem Mandviwalla, Muhammad Ajaz Haroon, former secretary OCHSL, Karachi and former chairman Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Abdul Qadir Shiwani and private persons, Triq Mehmood, benamidar of Mandviwalla, Abdul Qayyum, private person and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed of Omni group in OCHSL (Kidney Hill) on April 14 in a case pertaining to multi-billion fake bank accounts case.

The court issued directives to all accused to ensure their presence in the court during the next hearing.

He also filed another application before the court seeking permanent exemption of his client from personal appearance before the court.

The PPP senator adopted the stance in his application that all the material placed before that court were baseless, therefore, charges against the accused should not be framed and rejected the reference.

Mandviwalla’s counsel told the court that indictment of the accused be deferred till decision came on his application, which the court approved and sought NAB’s reply.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that the bureau would submit its reply during the next hearing.

The NAB would inform court about money trail, the prosecutor said.

The court adjourned hearing till April 28th and asked the NAB to submit its reply during the next hearing.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021