PTI, PML-N leaders trade barbs in NA

ISLAMABAD: Senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday said the opposition leader and party President Shahbaz Sharif was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) without any charges against him whereas the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are not being touched.

Responding to a speech of Minister of State for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed in the National Assembly session, the PML-N parliamentarian said Dr Babar Awan is facing NAB reference and Imran Khan, Abdul Aleem Khan, Pervaiz Khattak and other PTI leaders who are facing corruption charges are not being arrested, whereas Shahbaz Sharif was taken into custody without any charges against him.

He reminded the PTI minister that former prime minister was disqualified not on corruption charges but for not withdrawing salary which was receivable from his son. He went on to say there is only one certified thief in the country who is Jahangir Tareen.

“He is the same person who managed fake mandate for you and brought elected members to Islamabad in his private plane making them join PTI. Rana Sanaullah warned the PTI minister against levelling baseless allegations on PML-N leaders and calling them thieves otherwise the treasury would also get a befitting response.

“This is the 13th or 14th occasion that a minister is giving non-serious statements,” he said and added the PTI minister instead of defending his government’s policies starts leveling baseless allegations to cover up their inability to resolve issues. The PML-N member said if the game of allegations from the PTI does not stop, they would also tell stories of corruption of their leaders. “We will also talk about the international agenda with which you came to power,“he said. Sanaullah recalled that Shahbaz Sharif filed a case against Imran Khan to claim damages of Rs10 billion for accusing him of offering Rs10 billion in return for not following Panama Papers case. “Imran is yet to appear in the court despite issuance of summons time and again,” he said.

The Minister of State for Communications Murad Saeed questioned whether there are no cases against the PML-N leaders saying that he never named any leader while talking about dacoits and thieves. Murad Saeed called for making a law for executing corrupt elements at D Chowk.

Meanwhile, Abdul Qadar Patel of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) created controversy in the House when he said he did not support a resolution to condemn killing of Maulana Samiul Haq whichwas adopted by the Assembly unanimously on Tuesday. Maulana Abdul Wasay of JUI-F regretted the remarks of the PPP member saying that Maulana Samiul Haq was an ex-parliamentarian and leader of a democratic and religious party. He pointed out that Ulema also played a role in creation of Pakistan and also made efforts to save Pakistan from breaking. “They were not religious leaders who raised slogan of ‘Udhar Tum Idhar Hum’,” he said. The former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the JUI-F did not name the founder of PPP Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but he (Abdul Wasay) was pointing to same personality.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri informed the House that policy regarding Haj 2019 would be devised in three months. The Minister said the dialogue among various religious communities of Pakistan is vital for the interfaith harmony saying the government is planning to organise an international interfaith harmony conference next year.

Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda indulged in heated exchange of words on issue of water share for provinces during NA proceedings.

The exchange of accusations from both sides began when responding to a calling attention notice on the 1991 Water Accord, the Minister for Water Resources said the last Federal Government was involved in theft of water from the share of Balochistan and Sindh. “The water was stolen on the verbal orders from the then federal government,” he said adding that he also knew names of those thieves. The minister time and again mentioned that the last federal government was involved in shutting down telemeters. it was unprecedented that the federal government issued verbal orders to steal water.

The calling attention notice was moved by Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Naveed Qamar, Pir Noor Muhammad Shah Jeelani and other PPP parliamentarians. They had complained of non provision of due share of water to Sindh according to 1991 Accord. Faisal Vawda said it would be difficult to implement 1991 water accord till telemeters are installed to measure water. He said installing telemeters is responsibility of the provincial governments.

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while taking strong exception to the allegations of the minister said a special committee of the House should be constituted to find the truth and it should finalise its report in one month. At the same time, the allegations are very serious as the Minister is accusing that water was stolen for Punjab province. In response, the Minister for Water Resources insisted that he accused the federal government and not the Punjab province of stealing water. He once again accused the then PML-N government of corrupt practices. At that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said he would even call his (Faisal) father corrupt if he continues to use such language without any evidence and reason. Abbasi said the ministers have adopted a habit of leveling allegations against opposition leaders to cover up their own misdeeds and inability to address the issues and problems being faced by the country. Faisal regretted remarks from Shahid Khaqan Abbasi saying he knew very well as to how far the former prime minister was honest. “My father is not corrupt but a father (Nawaz Sharif) and his daughter were convicted while his sons are absconders,” he said.