NAB should stop meddling in private businesses: Mandviwalla

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla accused the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of violation of human rights.

“When I raised the issue of human rights violation by the NAB with the reputed human rights organisations, they said I was tarnishing the image of Pakistan,” he said this Wednesday while talking to the media after meeting the business community of Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Saleem Mandviwalla came hard on the NAB and said the anti-graft body should stop interfering in the matters of privatebusinesses and said not a day passes when he receives calls from people regarding the NAB, who tell him that how they left the country due to the NAB.

He said the NAB was established to check corruption not to check the export import, not to check plots and also not to check that who is paying the tax. “There should be no meddling by the NAB in these matters as there were institutions for these purposes and we have to stop NAB’s involvement in these matters; either we have to force the government to stop it or take it up in the Parliament,” he said, adding that NAB’s chairman should be summoned to explain this to him. He said the NAB accused everyone as thief and robber but how could it level such an allegation on people. “We have made the NAB into a monster,” he added.

He said the NAB did not have the authority to summon businessmen. “NAB chairman was saying that he was looking into under invoicing but he did not have the powers to look into export and import,” he further added.

To a question, Mandviwalla criticised PM’s adviser on accountability and interior Shahzad Akbar for interfering in parliamentary affairs and said now Shahzad Akbar will tell the parliamentarians how to run the parliament. “Shahzad Akbar said I should not use the Senate forum, should I go to streets and express myself. Who is he to ask me not to use Senate forum. I will write a letter to the Senate chairman again and reconvene the upper house session; the matter is not yet over, he added.

He said his privilege motion was still lying in the Senate and if it did not comes up in the upcoming session then he will write a letter to Senate chairman. “If they think that the issue has been settled then they are mistaken,” he further added.

To another question, he said the Parliament has the right to summon the NAB chairman and he knows that NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (R) will appear before the Senate committee being a retired a judge. “NAB chairman should listen to these families’ woes,” he said, adding that he will provide the list of people who were affected by the NAB. He said even the former ambassador of China had told him that they did not want involvement of the NAB in the accords.

Meanwhile, PML-N Secretary lnformation Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Shahzad Akbar's press conference was another fraud in the long list of false propaganda tactics by the imposed PTI government.In a statement Marriyum said, Shahzad Akbar should be ashamed of himself for waving around fake documents for the past 2 and a half years accusing PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif and PML-N President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif of corruption while the Imran-led mafia regime is bleeding the country's every drop of blood through their unchecked mass corruption.

She said Shahzad Akbar had been vomiting lies fed by Imran Khan for the past 2 and a half years to distract the nation while PTI continues looting and robbing the country with both hands.

The former information minister said Imran and his stooges accuse the opposition of NRO while the PTI government is desperately pursuing NRO to brush their horrible corruption in Peshawar BRT, Billion Tree Tsunami, 23 illegal foreign funding accounts case and others.

She said despite all resources, abusing national institutions, committing contempt of court, illegal detentions and flouting due process, the selected prime minister and his goons had been unable to prove a single penny of public money corruption on the PML-N leadership. She said the government has locked down Parliament and is shamelessly pushing for its NRO behind closed doors of the house.

Marriyum also slammed the exponential increase in the prices of eggs and chicken. She said Imran has voiced plans of mending national economy with eggs and chicken but the people of Pakistan are unable to buy them now.

She said Imran is sitting on his gifted throne and robbing the people through eggs and chicken mafia after patronizing sugar, wheat, flour, medicine and fuel. She told Imran to step down before the cost of a single egg equals that of a chicken. She said the cost of eggs is now equal to cost of chicken meat in PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif's tenure in government.

Marriyum said this looting and one hand and accusations on the other won't work now. She said the people of Pakistan would not be fooled with such tactics anymore. Meanwhile, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that it paid huge respect to the Parliament and Parliamentarians.

“The NAB also respects Senate Deputy Chairman Salim Mandviwalla and will respond on his baseless allegations and accusations at appropriate time as per law,” the NAB said in a statement while responding to the press conference of Senate Deputy Chairman Salim Mandviwalla.