ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said that disqualifying a thrice-elected prime minister on the basis of “Iqama” in the absence of authentic evidence of any corruption was a tragedy as Wajid Zia had not been able to put the evidence, which he collected through a London based company that had gone into bankruptcy, in proper order.
Speaking to media representatives outside the Accountability Court, she said that even the court had to point it out and ask him to arrange the evidence in proper sequence.
The minister said that the boxes of evidence collected by the stalwarts of the judicial investigation team (JIT) which was “based on lies” was such that even after two years they were finding it difficult to pick up its ends.
The minister observed that Wajid Zia standing in court confessed that he was not aware of the content of the Qatari prince’s letter. She asked what kind of joke was it that the JIT report was compiled on the basis of ridiculous statements of the witnesses. She posed a question as to what kind of graciousness was it and what was going on?
Marriyum said that what was happening was very regrettable and it was a moment of introspection for the nation.
She said the entire nation was supporting the narrative of ‘give respect to the vote’, expounded by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, and the former premier would also emerge triumphant from the current phase as he had done nothing wrong.
Marriyum said that Raza Rabbani not being the Senate chairman was “highly unfortunate” for the Senate as well as the parliament. The minister said that the signing of Charter of Democracy with Benazir Bhutto and joining other alliances by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was designed to strengthen democracy. After the Senate election for chairman and deputy chairman, she said, the PML-N would not support any party which danced at the “fingers of the umpire”.
