ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that those who have taken the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly.
In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, he said that the political history of Pakistan has been very bitter with unending acts of revenge in politics and the political parties after learning a lesson from these bitter realities of the past buried politics of revenge, and signed the Charter of Democracy. He said that a new history of consensus on the national agenda was written.
The prime minister said that I and my colleagues are still facing NAB’s proceedings, the allegations against us which were proven false, an investigation was also conducted by the UK, and the National Crime Agency gave us a clean chit.
Shehbaz Sharif said that not only political opponents but their families and relatives were not forgiven and a drug case was registered against Rana Sanaullah.
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Government ministers during the previous regime used to announce arrests of opposition leaders a day in advance, Shehbaz added.
He said after assuming office on April 11, 2022, he said that he did not adopt the attitude which was adopted by the government of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said that the opposition’s request to make changes in the NAB law was being described as seeking an NRO. He said that as per the previous NAB law anybody could have been arrested for a period of 90 days and the present government made amendments to it. He said that the first person who has benefited from the NAB amendments is Imran Khan.
The prime minister said that they never refused to face the court and the law, and despite reservations and objections, kept appearing before the law and the court.
He said that Nawaz Sharif, who became the prime minister of this country thrice, also appeared in more than a hundred NAB court hearings along with his innocent daughter.
The prime minister said that the rule of law means that one fights for his rights in a court of law, and damaging public and private property is an act of terrorism. He added that the strong and the weak are equal before the law, this is the teachings of Islam and this is the beauty of democracy.
He said that the PTI chairman has been arrested in the case of corruption and corrupt practices and all the evidence and proof of the Al-Qadir Trust case are there, which is being investigated by the NAB. He questioned how the issue of the UK sterling 190 million or Rs60 billion got the approval of the cabinet in a sealed envelope.
He said that when the matter is about Rs60 billion of the national treasury neither Islam nor law or democracy allow the accused to refuse to face the court and the law.
He said Imran Khan and the PTI have committed the unforgivable crime of anti-nationalism by causing serious damage to sensitive government and private properties. He said that never been such scenes in the 75-year history of Pakistan witnessed that people besieged vehicles and houses and lives were put in danger.
He added that private and government vehicles were set on fire, Swat Motorway was burnt, government officials were subjected to torture, and sensitive properties and buildings were attacked. The prime minister said that the act of instigating a few hundred armed groups against the Pakistan Army, and desecration of the memorials of martyrs and ghazis has hurt the heart of the entire nation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023