Turmoil has hit govt ranks: Shehbaz

LAHORE: The government’s over three-year propaganda of money laundering and corruption has ended after the investigation of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and a clean chit by a British court.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) President and NA Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif said this in a press conference held here on Wednesday at the party’s office in Model Town. He said after the investigation of the National Crime Agency and a clean chit given by the British court, turmoil hit government ranks. The recent verdict of the British court exposed all the lies of the government before the nation.

“Now the government is trying to give an impression that the National Crime Agency has started its own investigation but everything is clear from the official letters of different government departments sent to the NCA,” he said, adding that the director general NAB Lahore also visited London and offered assistance to the National Crime Agency.

“During the investigation, when no progress was seen against us, the hands and feet of the NAB and the East Recovery Unit swelled and then the FIA was asked to enter the arena,” he said, adding that the lies of Imran Niazi and his followers have been exposed after the British court stamped the order.

“All efforts have been made to defame me. There is a system of Nature. Time will prove who is honest and trustworthy,” Shehbaz maintained. He said the remarks given by the Supreme Court and the decision of the London court proved that he had not committed any corruption or money laundering.

Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, Central Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, Deputy General Secretary Ataullah Tarar and Punjab Information Secretary Azma Bukhari were present on the occasion.

“Honor and disgrace are in the hands of Allah. A storm of insults was hurled at me and my family and baseless allegations were being made on TV day and night,” Shehbaz stated. The NAB-Niazi nexus made allegations of corruption in the Multan Metro and this was the first project which was scrutinised by the NAB chairman after a thorough investigation and no corruption was proved, Shehbaz claimed, adding that then it was alleged that he did corruption through a front man and owned an offshore company but these allegations were declined by the Chinese government.

This government didn’t consider how China has helped and supported Pakistan in the last 74 years, he said and added he was also accused of embezzling money from the fund of earthquake victims in 2006. He said at that time he was in exile. He said the DFID opened its office on an off day on July 15, 2009 and issued a statement denying those allegations. He said he served Punjab for ten years under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. He said Nawaz Sharif, he, Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz were sent to jails but so far nothing was proved against any of them.

He said that in 2019, the government managed to publish a story in the Daily Mail and journalist David Rose was invited here and met Imran Niazi. Shehbaz said this fire of Imran Khan also misfired. “The National Crime Agency is a world-renowned investigative agency,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s Asset Recovery Unit wrote a letter to the NCA for investigation, which exposed the lies of Imran Niazi and his followers.

DG NAB Shehzad Saleem offered assistance to the National Crime Agency in investigations, he said and maintained that making such lies should be stopped now. He said not one or two but four accounts of his family were frozen and “we voluntarily cooperated in the investigation”. He said that the worst revenge against the PMLN was still going on in Pakistan but this propaganda didn’t work in London as there is rule of law and no one can pressurise investigators as well as courts.

The PMLN president said the Supreme Court in its remarks said there was no corruption. “The National Crime Agency investigates up to six years back but in our case, the investigation went back to 20 years. When I was in exile, I was not living there as a guest of the Queen and getting stipend but I did business there and bought a flat with a loan from my acquaintance and a bank and we showed every document to the National Crime Agency,” Shehbaz said.

“Imran Khan left no stone unturned in defaming us,” he said, adding that the time is coming very soon and it will be known who is honest and trustworthy. “I say again today that if even after my death, any corruption is proved, my body should be taken out of the grave and hung from a pole,” Shehbaz said.

After the press conference of Shehbaz Sharif, the organizational meeting of the PMLN Lahore Division was held under the chair of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. Addressing the meeting, Nawaz said this is for the first time that he is talking to his party members from such a distance. He said the PML-N is getting stronger today because of people and has become the biggest party of the country. “We have built metro bus, orange train, hospitals, schools and colleges. Today people are proud of old Pakistan,” he added.

The former prime minister said as people accepted the PMLN narrative, now the RTS will neither be closed nor our votes will go to the PTI. He said today people do not have money to pay electricity and gas bills, buy medicines and food. “From 2013 to 2017, the country was making progress. Dictators never let this country run,” he said, adding that the PMLN made Pakistan a nuclear power by showing courage.

He said several elected prime ministers of Pakistan faced a bad fate. He said Sheikh Mujibur Rehman used to proudly say that Pakistan was created by him. He was one of the associates of Quaid-i-Azam. “If we were delivering, we should not have been prevented from coming to power again and again,” he said and announced that he will be among his party members as soon as possible. “In Pakistan, we did not get justice but in Britain, we got justice and wished that Pakistan’s judicial system will become similar to the British system where no one can pressurize anyone,” he concluded.

Mian Javed Latif and Waheed Kakar also addressed the meeting while PMLN Punjab General Secretary Owais Leghari gave a briefing on organizational matters. PMLN Punjab President Rana Sanaullah Khan addressed the meeting as well.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said she congratulated Shehbaz Sharif as he has been declared an honest and trustworthy man at the international level. “Imran Khan has become a mental patient and is using the NAB and the FIA to make cases against the PMLN,” she said, adding that despite having all resources and record, he has failed to prove any wrongdoing or corruption of the PMLN.

She said when the government was asked about gifts, they said they can’t say anything. She said billions of rupees have been laundered in the country for running false cases. She said the PMLN is the future of Pakistan because only the PMLN has a narrative which was accepted by the nation. She said there was no person who does not believe in the sanctity of vote and the supremacy of the Constitution and that was the only way to develop the country.

She said Nawaz Sharif never asked anything for himself but he had to lose his position because of his narrative, which ‘they’ didn’t want to accept. Nawaz Sharif asked for the honour of vote. Maryam said when people remember Khidmat, they remember the PMLN. People remember Shehbaz Sharif when they see piles of garbage on the roads of Lahore.

“The PTI will not get candidates in the next elections,” Maryam said, adding that Imran Khan didn’t go to America because no one was ready to meet him and recognize him as the elected prime minister of Pakistan. “The one page they talk about also failed,” she claimed. She said where were those who used to say that Nawaz Sharif is over. “Even today Imran Khan’s day starts with Nawaz Sharif who is also talked about in the cabinet meetings,” she said and asked the party workers to work hard in the interest of the country.