Courts silent over govt corruption, alleges Abbasi

LAHORE: The courts that had de-seated an elected prime minister by taking a suo moto are silent today against the corruption of Imran Khan and his government. This was stated by former prime minister and PML-N senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while talking to media outside the judicial complex here on Wednesday. PML-N leader Ata Tarar was also present. Mr Abbasi said that today the nation and the PDM were asking as to why the ongoing corruption of the present government was being ignored by the courts. “Be it the sugar, flour, LNG scandals, no action has been taken by anyone against the beneficiaries of these scandals,” he said. He said that despite the work being done contrary to the promises of the ISPR DG, the PDM had won.

He said accountability bodies and courts were silent against the corruption of the government but the PDM had decided to highlight wrongdoing as well as to fight the system.

Referring to the case of the PML-N president and opposition leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, the former prime minister said that this was the only case in the history of Pakistan in which a person who was on trial and appearing in courts was arrested and jailed.

“The NAB has no other similar example during the last two decades which clearly indicates that the purpose of putting Shahbaz Sharif in jail is to pressure the PML-N and PDM,” he said.

The government wanted to snub the voice of people in the name of accountability, he said, adding the PML-N will not bow down to pressure tactics and fight the Nab-Niazi nexus on every forum.

He said the purpose of putting Shahbaz Sharif in jail was to paralyze parliament and humiliate politicians but the people today had understood and known the issues.

He alleged that everything the NAB was doing was based on lies and so far corruption of not a single rupee had been proved against Shahbaz Sharif.

Mr Abbasi said that all these things would have to be answered one day and this fake system of accountability would be reversed. “You look at the case of Nawaz Sharif, look at the case of Rana Sanaullah, who is also the head of the International Parliamentary Union, which is an institution of more than 150 countries,” he said, adding the time has passed when politicians were booked on buffalo theft cases.

He alleged that Imran Khan had taken Rs70 crore from an independent candidate who was later elected.

“Who gave him 11 votes”, he questioned and said one day that person would speak himself that he had given Rs70 crore to Imran Khan in his office. He said the same person had joined the PTI after the win.

He said the world was seeing what was going around and how the opposition was being pushed to the wall. He said despite the announcement of the ISPR DG such ‘things’ had happened. He said the PDM would win the seat of the Senate chairman despite the presence of all the anti-democracy forces and their plans.

Answering a question, he said the PDM had decided to fight against this system. He said that Yusuf Raza Gilani was a strong candidate of the PDM for the chairmanship of the Senate and all decisions were made after consultation.

“We wanted to believe what the ISPR DG had said,” he said, adding the role of the army should not be in politics, but it was being denied in the run-up to the Senate elections and the vote of confidence, he said. He said that he was hopeful that the members of the Senate would vote according to their conscience.

To a question about filing bail application of Shahbaz Sharif in the Lahore High Court, Ata Tarar said that legal consultations were going on and the party would inform the media about filing the bail application of the PML-N president.