'Rigged' polls: Khaqan seeks 'truth commission' to ascertain 'beneficiary'

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Tuesday, said that no elections in the country's history were held transparent, and sought a truth commission to ascertain the beneficiary of rigged polls.

"Since 1948 to 2018 no election in the country were transparent," said Abbasi, when he was asked that whether the general election held in 2013 were transparent or not. He further said that a truth commission should be constituted to determine that who were the beneficiary of rigging country's elections.

He said that if transparent elections were held in the country in the future then the people will see the results.

"People of Pakistan would make them (the PTI) an example," he said, while talking to reporters after appearing before the Accountability Court in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case.

Abbasi said that yesterday, a tragic train incident took place but there was no shame on the faces of the government ministers.

Government blamed opposition parties for the incident, he said. He criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for condoling with the victims of the train incident through tweets.

He said that the prime minister could not come to the assembly to express sympathy with the families of those who lost their near and dear ones in the train accident. The premier did not come to the National Assembly and apologise to the nation for the accident, he said. The former premier said that the nation should be informed that where the fund has gone which was allocated for maintenance of the railway track. To a question about the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership's recent statements against the PML-N, he said that there is no, point of no return, in politics.

The PML-N and the PPP were both political parties and both will raise their voice for the solution of public problems. Abbasi said that the PPP is requested to learn etiquettes. To another query about the defence budget, he said that in the upcoming budget, the defence budget will be reduced by 30 percent.

He said that present government has completely failed to solve public problems.

People of Pakistan know that the rulers have no concern with the problems of the country, soon the people will make these rulers an example.

He said that he was grateful to Prime Minister Imran Khan, who said that if the rulers of a country were corrupt then the country will be destroyed. Today is the most corrupt government in the Center and Punjab in the country's history. Now another fresh scandal of the present government would come to light that how Imran Khan and his collaborators earned billions of rupees, he said.

Earlier, Abbasi and other accused appeared before the Accountability Court-II judge, Muhammad Azam Khan, in LNG case. During the hearing, the court recorded statements of two prosecution witnesses including Fasihuddin and Syed Sajid Raza.

The witness, Fasihuddin, acting senior general manager regulatory affairs Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL), while recording his statement, said that he appeared before the NAB investigation officer (IO) Malik Zubair on September 3, 2019, regarding investigation against the EETPL.

I was asked by the IO regarding the financial position of the SSGCL, he said, adding that he had produced a chart. The chart was pertaining to the SSGCL of year 2009-10, 2016, and 20117 based on the published financial statements of the company. He told the court that in the chart, revenues, expenditure, and profitability of the company have been reflected.

The company has been earning revenue in the range of Rs120 billion and Rs177 billion over this period, he said, adding that in financial years, 2012, 2013, and 2014, the revenue was Rs164 billion and Rs169 billion respectively.

The company had made profit in the five years out of these eight years; however, the negative bottom line in financial year 2013 -14 to financial year 2015 -2016 is attributable to unaccounted for gas (UfG) over and above the bench mark determined by the OGRA, vacation of stay by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on the matter of the UfG bench marking, non-operating incomes.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021