LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Sunday that although limits of the state institutions had been laid down in the constitution, but sadly the institutions had no regard for them. Speaking at Asma Jahangir conference currently under way in Lahore, he stressed the need for adopting democratic attitudes for democracy to flourish.

He said neither there was accountability in the country on the pattern of Saudi Arabia, nor the country had stringent laws like China. However, speaking on the occasion, former prime minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that societies decay when laws are not uniformly implemented. “I have spent three years in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) jail.

It is unfortunate that the anti-corruption watchdog has been used against the politicians only, and those who had established it are yet to come under its scanner,” he said, and asked, “Did this ‘selective’ accountability benefit the country in any way?”

He regretted that the NAB did not swing into action against those sitting in the corridors of power.

Deploring that mere allegation was enough to send people behind bars in the country, Abbasi said it was a pity that the burden of proof lay on the shoulder of defendant, and not the petitioner. PML-N leader opined that the verdicts given by the judges were contrary to the observations they made during the hearing of cases.

“It is sad that politicians are subjected to media trial while same does not happen to people belonging to other walks of life,” he said, adding that first of all he was called a ‘money launderer’ only to be later told that he was not. “This is what the NAB is doing against the politicians,” he added.

“What are we doing, and where are we heading?” former prime minister asked.