Senate session: NAB should hold across- the-board accountability

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Azam Swati called upon the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal Monday in the Senate to hold across the board accountability, as the government was being defamed because of him.

Winding up debate in the House on political victimisation, denial of fundamental rights and revocation of citizenship of ex-senator Hafiz Hamdullah, the minister emphasised the government fully supported across the board accountability.

He contended if there were lacunas in the NAB law, let government and the opposition sit together to deal with them. “Javed Iqbal Sahab use the powers, given by the law and Parliament and spare none, who has been indulging in corruption,” he asserted.

Referring to PPP and PML-N, he said that those, who had been archrivals in the past and had been slamming one another, were today united not to let accountability process continue, hurt the Kashmir issue and promote Modi’s narrative.

“They will all be held accountable before the nation. There was a major case against a judge, but due to weak prosecution, the matter could not be taken to its logical conclusion. Justice Javed Iqbal sahib the prosecution will have to be strengthened,” he argued.

Peeping into the past, the minister said that the ‘acts of Saifur Rehman were part of history and that actual was political victimisation. He added who were politically nurtured by General Jilani were today talking about political victimisation.

He disputed with opposition senators that PTI leader Jahangir Tareen was not subjected to accountability and said that Saqib Nisar had tried to come at par with Imran Khan in stature and facts were twisted to punish him, who had provided full money trail. “Many of our ministers are in jail and what we did to our 20 lawmakers after Senate polls is before all,” he said.

About revoking citizenship of Hafiz Hamdullah, he said that this was done on the basis of the agencies’ report about him, which claimed that the documents, he submitted were fake. “I condemn this. And entire cabinet, including prime minister had disliked this action. The agencies presented a report on January 09 this year that his documents were fake and the Nadra has to go through a process,” he noted.

He emphasised why no proper investigation was carried out against Hafiz Hamdullah, who had already been an MPA, provincial minister and then a senator, who was declared an alien on October 11. “I vehemently condemn it and our government can’t support such an act,” he remarked.

The minister said that the Ministry of Interior had given him a detailed statement on this matter but he would support the truth with responsibility how a responsible citizen could be denied his legal and constitutional right.

Earlier, taking part in discussion, Senator Pervaiz Rashid said government had completely failed to fulfill its promises made at the time of elections. He pointed out that certain ministers, who had talked about bringing back $100 billion on the first day of the PTI government, were today being pushed forward to attack the opposition.

He also said that the commission, formed by this government in its preliminary report, had concluded that the loans obtained in the past were not misused by any individual. Senator Pervaiz lamented that there were dozens of reports about Nawaz Sharif’s health and the courts had also ruled that an ill person could get treated as per his wishes but a file was making rounds for the last three days, as Prime Minister had declared the other day that he was merciless and what else proof was need that political victimisation was going on.