LAHORE: Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz on Friday said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders get arrested ahead of every election, calling it “beyond understanding”.
He was addressing a press conference in Lahore after the arrest of his father and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) just over a week before the October 14 by-election. The PML-N leader pointed out that his uncle and former PM Nawaz Sharif was also arrested before the July 25 general elections.
“This is political victimisation at its worst. First, they ousted Nawaz Sharif and now they are after Shehbaz Sharif. Imran Khan cannot accept criticism, he can’t even face prison for two days,” he stated.
He also claimed that the PTI leadership feared the opposition’s strong position in upcoming by-polls.
He said that his father was accused of cancelling the contract of Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme which was awarded to Lateef & Sons, despite the fact that it was cancelled by Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) board of governors on the basis of its findings.
The Punjab opposition leader elaborated that the contractor, Chaudhry Lateef, was accused of irregularities in Orange Line and other projects, adding that he had entered into plea bargain with the bureau. He said that Lateef was still absconding in a corruption case, lamenting that the contractor was still awarded contract of Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
Hamza dared Prime Minister Imran Khan to go on with the arrests spree “in connivance with the NAB”.
“Niazi sahib, arrest as many people as you can in connivance with NAB. These tactics are not new for the PML-N,” he thundered.
The PML-N leader said that Shehbaz’s arrest ahead of the by-election was an expression of PM Khan’s unease for his “crippled government that is hanging in the air”.
He also criticised the premier over the use of the official helicopter.
Hamza said that while NAB had launched a witch-hunt against the PML-N, it had chosen to look the other way in the cases of PTI leaders Abdul Aleem Khan, Advocate Babar Awan and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.
“Everyone knows that Aleem Khan’s name is synonymous with land grabbing mafia in Punjab yet the cases against him are pending in NAB for years. Similarly, Babar Awan is accused of causing a huge loss to the national exchequer in the Nandipur power project yet the anti-graft bureau is dragging its feet in the investigation,” he said.
He claimed that while people are arrested based on the statement of a “person who is in direct NAB custody”, others accused of corruption including Babar Awan, Aleem Khan and Zulfi Bukhari are not questioned.
The PA Opp leader said that the PML-N lawmakers in the National Assembly had moved a resolution for summoning the House to register their protest against the sudden arrest of their party’s president.
He asked the PTI government to stop bringing “politically motivated” cases against the Sharif family for they would gain nothing as his family is honest.
“I am proud to be Shehbaz Sharif’s son and Nawaz Sharif’s nephew for they have served country. My father taught me that one can’t take worldly belongings with oneself as funeral shroud doesn’t have pockets,” said Hamza.
Urging the PML-N workers to stay calm, he vowed to fight a legal and constitutional battle against his father’s arrest.
