Bilawal appears before NAB amid PPP-police clashes

Ag APP

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday with regards to the fake accounts case amid violent clashes between party activists and the police.

According to Geo News, a joint interrogation team of the anti-graft body questioned Bilawal, after which he left the NAB headquarters. Speaking at a news conference afterwards, Bilawal said he was interviewed for 20 minutes and handed a questionnaire.

Geo News sources said the questionnaire contains 32 questions, which Bilawal has to respond to by June 12. The sources also said the PPP chairman was asked about the accounts of the Zardari Group of companies.

Upon Bilawal’s arrival earlier, party workers chanted slogans, as police used water cannons to prevent the activists from advancing. At D-Chowk, PPP workers and police broke into a melee. The police were seen baton-charging the PPP workers at several places and also made arrests later on.

Zardari excused himself from appearing before the NAB. He was supposed to show up for questioning on Wednesday. This is the second time the former president excused himself from appearance.

During his news conference, Bilawal said constructive criticism was not being tolerated in the country. “The people are releasing that [Prime Minister Imran] Khan lied on the slogan of change.

They have realised that they are not capable of running the country. He is conspiring and using extreme force to hide his inadequacies.”

Bilawal stressed that it was the right of every Pakistani to take part in a democracy which ensured freedom to assembly and speech. He added there were no emergency measures in place in Islamabad and Section 144 had not been imposed.

“I had not given a call but some of my workers and MNAs decided to come. The law does not forbid people coming with me. Despite this, PPP workers and elected members were attacked by the government of Imran Khan.”

According to Bilawal, these types of tactics were not something new for the PPP and would not scare the party. “We will not compromise on our principles and ideology,” he said.

The PPP chairman demanded the immediate release of the arrested PPP workers. “Is this state of Medina where you attack women in Ramadan?” Bilawal asked.

Bilawal also criticised the accountability laws, terming them a “black law”. “This institution is for political revenge and engineering. We believe that in our case rule of law, standard precedence is not being used. Our right to a fair trial is being undermined.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz condemned the “assault” of the PPP workers.

“The person who attacked Parliament, PM House, PTV and paralysed Islamabad for four months could not tolerate a small protest because he is scared,” Maryam tweeted in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Reacting to the events, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government spokeswoman Firdous Ashiq Awan said the NAB was only asking questions about the wealth accumulated by the PPP leadership but they gathered their political workers “to put pressure on NAB”.

She condemned “the behaviour of PPP leadership” and said they needed to show “political maturity”.