Slamming what he called an ‘unholy alliance’ between the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said the watchdog’s list of 71 politicians and bureaucrats it was investigating was ‘all an eyewash’.
Khawaja Saad Rafique saved the sinking railways, yet he has been receiving notices from NAB daily, Shehbaz said while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, adding that several members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were also receiving notices from NAB. “This country will not be run like this. We will not let PTI impose its wishes and inflict cruelty. We will stand in its way,” he asserted.
Shehbaz said he would leave politics if Prime Minister Imran Khan could prove that a request for a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was made. He challenged the prime minister to identify the person who had asked the government for such a deal. We did not ask for an NRO. If the leader of the house can prove that a request was made for an NRO, I will quit politics for all times to come, he said. I curse the NRO, he said. “We cannot be scared off like this,” he added. “If the leader of the house cannot prove the NRO request, then he should come [to the House] and apologise here,” he demanded.
Shehbaz lashed out at the PTI government for ‘dropping inflation bombs’ on the masses since coming into power. Lamenting the recent hike in gas and electricity prices, the PML-N president questioned how the PTI government would build five million houses for the poor. “They have wiped away the poor people’s dreams with their inflation bombs,” he said. He cautioned the government to tread with care on the path of seeking support from the friendly countries to mitigate the economic woes of the country. Saudi Arabia, Iran and China are Pakistans time-tested friends, he said. Any attempt to derail China-Pakistan Economic Corridor must be foiled immediately, he said.
He claimed that former foreign minister Khawaja Asif and the head of a state institution also played a role in the $6 billion financial assistance that the PTI government was able to secure from Saudi Arabia.
Taking aim at the ruling party, he said that never before in the history of the country a government lost its credibility so soon after assuming power.
Published in Daily Times, November 1st 2018.
