- Nawaz Sharif enraged over NAB’s ‘harassment’ of govt officials, says NAB officials destroying people’s reputation with unlawful cases
- Says if NAB chief doesn’t rein in sleuths, the government would itself take action against them
- Says he does not believe in ‘politics of lies’, claims he has never lied personally
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday lashed out at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials for ‘harassing’ government employees on the pretext of corruption charges.
“NAB officials barge into houses and offices of innocent people without verifying the authenticity of corruption or other charges, if there were any,” Prime Minister Nawaz said while addressing newly-elected local government representatives of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
He said that NAB officials had dishonored the people in unlawful cases. “They terrify the government officers on baseless charges and hinder the performance of their official work,” he added.
This, he said, was totally unacceptable; the NAB officials should perform their duty responsibly, he added.
The prime minister said he had brought the issue into the notice of the NAB chairman and if any action in this regard was not taken by him, then the government would itself take the necessary action.
The prime minister said that he did not believe in ‘politics of lies’ and said that he had never lied personally. But the new politicians of today knew nothing except telling lies. However, he said, the people knew their reality.
Talking about the energy crisis, he posed a question to the participants as to how the country had been pushed into such a quagmire.
“The previous governments are responsible for today’s power outages. The load shedding had not only shut down the farmers’ tube wells causing declines in agricultural produce ultimately affecting exports, but also reduced industrial output,” he said.
He said it was not in accordance with democratic norms as the people elected a leader and another force toppled his government.
Referring to Musharraf’s dictatorial regime, he said a seven-point development programme was launched then, but its impact was not witnessed during his days. Rather the people became poor and the country became a haven for terrorists. Around 10 years ago, Pakistan was witnessing the worst kind of power outages, he added.
He then lashed at the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), saying the nation knew what it had done for the betterment of the people during its government. No attention was given to overcome power shortage during their tenure.
Sharif said that running the government of a country was not a bed of roses but that of thorns. It was a responsibility entrusted by Almighty Allah to serve the masses. The people, who had done nothing during their tenure, would be answerable to Allah.
He said the prime minister was not more powerful than in 90s. When he took power, he was asked the deadline for overcoming the energy crisis. Since he did not tell a lie, so he had said that at least five years were required to overcome the crisis.
“Today the duration of power outages has reduced and hopefully the crisis would be eliminated once and for all in five years,” he added.
The prime minister pledged to strengthen and empower local governments to resolve public issues.
He said the people had given the PML-N a great mandate in local government elections and pinned great expectations on its elected representative. They would be fully empowered to serve the masses, he said.
Referring to his exile by the former dictator, the prime minister said that a person whose homeland was everything to him could never think of spending seven years abroad.