Nawaz’s arrest insufficient, looted money should also be recovered, PTI demands

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawad Chaudhry on Friday said that the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif wasn’t enough, demanding that the looted money be brought back to the country.

The former prime minister, who arrived in Pakistan on Friday night along with his daughter Maryam, was sentenced to imprisonment and hefty fines in the Avenfield properties corruption reference by an anti-graft court last week.

Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, the PTI leader said that the PML-N had asked the very same people to welcome Nawaz upon his arrival whose money the family had usurped.

“The allegations against Nawaz Sharif are quite simple. He was elected as the prime minister thrice, he was liable to disclose his sources of income yet he was unable to do so,” Chaudhry said, adding that many important verdicts in cases against the PML-N supremo were still pending.

“Arresting him isn’t enough, Rs300 billion should be brought back to Pakistan,” he stressed. “The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Government of Pakistan should take necessary actions to bring the looted money back.”

Furthermore, the PTI spokesperson said that Nawaz’s sons, Hassan and Hussain, were safeguarding the looted money.

He attributed the situation at hand to the inexperience of the caretaker government. “If it were our government, we would have neither arrested [the PML-N workers], nor shut down cellular service,” Chaudhry said.

According to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, around 400 workers had been detained and arrested from Lahore and Rawalpindi. The Punjab government said it has detained the party’s workers on account of terrorism.

“It had been earlier said that protests can damage the economy, however, PML-N itself is now protesting,” he said.

Speaking about the upcoming General Election 2018, Chaudhry said that tasks need to be accomplished through the provincial apex committees. “Timely, peaceful polls are the biggest challenge at the moment,” he said.