‘Actions against me part of grand plan’

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said cases against him would have been decided in the first two months of court proceedings if he had committed corruption adding that a grand alliance was working against him. Nawaz said the person responsible for perpetrating bogus cases against him should be brought to doctors and questioned. He said Robert Radley’s testimony had gone in their favor.

Talking to the media outside the accountability court (AC) here, Nawaz said he wanted to see a person as the Senate chairman who has undeterred commitment to the Constitution and law. He said the Senate chairman must not be a person with an anti-democracy approach so the country may progress. “A weak person as the Senate chairman having a compromised approach will not serve the purpose. Raza Rabbani is the right choice but since his leadership is not willing to field him as a candidate, so we are trying to look for a suitable person within the PML-N with uncompromised character and undeterred commitment to law and the Constitution of Pakistan.”

Talking about the pending corruption references, Nawaz Sharif said six months have gone by but nothing could be proved. Responding to a question that Asif Ali Zardari had rejected a proposal to reappoint Raza Rabbani as the Senate chairman, Nawaz said on Wednesday he had attended a meeting of allied parties and everybody agreed that if they brought Raza Rabbani as the Senate chairman, they will support him. Answering a question about the appointment of Mushahid Hussain Sayed as the Senate chairman, Nawaz said he had great respect for Mushahid as he was a very competent person.

At the start of his talk to the media, Nawaz Sharif asked Federal Minister for Privatization Daniyal Aziz to brief the media. Referring to the statement of the JIT head Wajid Zia, he said the JIT chief investigator had himself admitted that Volume X of JIT report on the mutual legal assistance (MLA) has become irrelevant, as many countries to which the JIT wrote letters declined to provide any assistance, as the MLAs was not in line with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. At this, Nawaz Sharif interfered and said this showed that the countries to which the JIT wrote letters were convinced that this is a case of political persecution. One of the countries termed the Panama issue a political case while other countries declined in this regard, Daniyal Aziz said. In the supplementary reference filed on January 18 this year, the NAB has once again said they could find nothing in terms of MLAs and used a word 'still awaited', Daniyal said.

One can guess the standard of investigation in this matter that the investigators used to go to London and have dinners and lunches at the 'Royal Nawab' hotel with Sheikh Rasheed and Pakistan Awami Tehreek London officials.

In the supplementary reference once again they have showed that Maryam Nawaz is a dependent, while Justice Asif Saeed Khosa in his April 20, 2017 decision had clearly said that Maryam Nawaz is not a dependent. Now it would become clear why we were criticising the decision because justice is not done, he added.

Daniyal Aziz said the JIT report has declared a trust deed of the Avenfield apartments as fake, while in cross-examination it was proved that Calibri font existed in 2005, he added. Daniyal said the JIT misled the apex court which must also be probed. Nawaz Sharif said the testimony of Robert Radley has gone in their favor who testified to the court that the font was available to experts back in 2005.