Either country or NAB has to run: Shahid Khaqan

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Tuesday said corruption was rife in every ministry and it will have to be decided if the country or the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will run.

After appearing in Accountability Court in LNG reference, he said the NAB was only targeting the opposition. He said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had completely failed to control the spread of coronavirus adding that nowhere in the NCOC declaration was there a mention of the coronavirus vaccine.

“Nowhere in the world is the sale of vaccine allowed. It is only in Pakistan where profit is being earned through its sale,” he alleged. He further said it was unfortunate that the entire family of a minister was administered the coronavirus vaccine.

He regretted that it was strange that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had realised after two and a half years that its finance minister was ‘incompetent’. “There is corruption in every ministry. But still, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is targeting the opposition,” he alleged.

When asked why was there so much gap between the dates fixed for the hearing of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani’s case, Abbasi sarcastically replied this was because he “belonged” to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

Replying to a question about the future course of action to be taken by the opposition parties’ alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), former prime minister again sarcastically remarked, “We are thinking to invite BAP to join our alliance against the government.”

Earlier, AC Judge Azam Khan heard the LNG reference filed against the former prime minister. The court recorded the statement of NAB’s witness Director Petroleum Abdur Rashid Jokhio, and ordered counsels for the suspects to cross-examine the witness at the next hearing on April 6.

Reacting to the comments of Abbasi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Coordination Shahbaz Gill said those who sank the country in turmoil were now lecturing on economy.

He said the country and the NAB will exist, but corrupt people like him (Shahid Khaqan) could not. Gill called for strict accountability of those who looted the country’s money. He said corrupt families that had registered cases against each other in the past for now showing affection for each other and for them investigating corruption of ‘Mian Mafroor’ (Nawaz Sharif) was not in favour of the country. He said those holding the US dollar at a fix rate artificially in their tenure were now trying to become economists.