Emergence of truth, clarity in Hudaibya case: Shahbaz

KARACHI: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, in a conversation with Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo TV’s programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath”, said on Friday that the Hudaibiya case has witnessed the emergence of truth and attainment of clarity. People who wrongly accused us have failed miserably; there is a striking similarity between the Panama case and Imran’s case, he said.

The Punjab CM further added that the most corrupt people sit around Imran Khan all the time. “Imran Khan and his party members are masters in wasting time,” he said.

Shahbaz Sharif said: “The darkness in Pakistan has come to an end. The credit must go to Nawaz Sharif. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government has not produced even a single kilowatt of electricity, while there is a potential to produce thousands of megawatts of energy in KP.

“Because of his Islamabad ‘dharna’, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects faced delays. This person kept saying it for four years that billions have been wasted on the Lahore Metro, but now he has himself taken a loan to kick off the metro project in KP. I have always said that there are corrupt people sitting around Imran Khan.”

This was stated by Shahbaz Sharif later in the programme. However, the programme was kicked off by Shahzeb Khanzada, who talked about three historic judgments on Friday.

Shahzeb said: “Imran Khan cleared while Jahangir Tareen disqualified. The Supreme Court has announced verdict of one of the country’s history’s most important cases. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is happy as well as sad after hearing this verdict. However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has reservations regarding this decision. On the other hand, the PML-N is happy about one of the other verdicts announced by the Supreme Court today.

“The case that had been chasing the Sharif family for the past 17 years seems to be nearing its end. The court has rejected to reopen the Hudaibiya case. Since the Panama Leaks case had surfaced, the political scenario of Pakistan is only revolving around courts. The PTI approached the court to disqualify Nawaz Sharif. Following which, the court disqualified Nawaz Sharif.”

Shahzeb Khanzada further added: “When the PTI approached the court, then the PML-N also took the matter to the court to decide the future political course of action of Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen. For this reason, the eyes of the entire country are fixed on the judiciary. Will the court cases end now? Will they continue to haunt the political scenario of Pakistan? Will more applications be filed to disqualify each other or this matter will only stop here?”

“In the Jahangir Tareen and Imran Khan case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s three-member bench has monitored over 50 hearings over the course of 405 days, taking approximately 101 hours. After all the rigour, the Supreme Court has finally announced the verdict in this case. The apex court has rejected the application of PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi and cleared Imran Khan in the case.

“Hanif Abbasi had accused Imran Khan of hiding his assets, his flat and his offshore company, which is called the Niazi Services. He also added that Imran Khan is not an honest person; therefore, Khan must be disqualified. However, while rejecting Abbasi’s accusations, the apex court had cleared Imran Khan in a historic judgment on Friday, adding that Khan did not hide assets. The court accepted Imran Khan’s stance of being the beneficial owner of Niazi Services, which only had a London flat in its assets, nothing else. If he had shown his flat, then there was no point of showing the offshore company. He had not given a wrong statement; therefore, he cannot be termed as a dishonest person, the court clarified.

“The court also declared Imran Khan’s money trail for Bani Gala. The court also declared that the accusation on Imran Khan for buying a flat in Islamabad and not showing its orders was not correct. It added that Khan had declared this asset as per the requirements of law. On the other hand, the PTI was also accused of obtaining foreign funding; however, this matter was referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by the apex court, ordering it to thoroughly analyse — without prejudice — the accounts of the past five years (not more than the past five years).”

“Imran Khan was cleared by the Supreme Court of Pakistan; however, his close aide and PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen was disqualified. The apex court disqualified Tareen under Article 80 of the Constitution of Pakistan. It is important to mention here that Nawaz Sharif was also disqualified under this article, which means that Tareen is also disqualified for his whole life. Nawaz Sharif was only disqualified for hiding his assets. On the other hand, Tareen not only has been disqualified for hiding his assets, but also for telling lies and giving misstatements.

“The doors of parliamentary politics are closed for Jahangir Tareen now. The ECP has also declared Tareen’s seat as vacant.”

Expressing his stance on the Supreme Court’s verdict, Jahangir Tareen tweeted that the Supreme Court had rejected the accusations against him, including the misuse of authority, loan write-off, insider trading and misdeclared agri-income. He further tweeted that the SC accepted that London property’s full money trail was not hidden, and was declared in children’s assets since 2011. Then the SC has disqualified me on mere interpretation of the trust deed, he questioned in the tweet.

Shahzeb added: “Tareen is also saying the same things that Nawaz Sharif used to say after the Panamagate verdict. Tareen is adamant that no corruption charges had been proven against him, and he was only disqualified for not receiving salary from his son. Jahangir Tareen believes that he has been disqualified for merely (wrong) interpretation of the trust deed. On the same day, the Supreme Court has also relieved the Sharif family from the case that had been haunting the family for the past 17 years. For this case, it was believed that Shahbaz Sharif was also in danger. Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified now, but the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) request has been rejected by the court. It is important to mention here that the court has rejected the NAB claims in fourth hearing only.

“The Hudaibiya case had been haunting the Sharif family for the past 17 years; however, after the surfacing of the Panama Leaks case, the Hudaibiya case also came at front. It was widely believed that the members of Sharif family who were saved from the Panama case will be stuck in the Hudaibiya case now. The court, yesterday, rejected the application to review the Lahore High Court’s 2014 verdict. However, the PTI is claiming that the apex court had rejected the application due to the weak prosecution of the court.”

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif clearly said, “Today, the truth has won.” He looked happy with the court’s verdict. Shahzeb Khanzada began the conversation by asking: “Shahbaz Sharif sir, you had tweeted that you got vindicated and the truth had clearly won. It was clear that the opposition thought that the Hudaibiya case would prove to be more detrimental for the PML-N. Today is a big day. A big decision has been announced. But today, two more decisions have been announced. In your opinion, what victory is the biggest one in terms of truth and equality?