–PPP chairman criticises transfer of fake accounts case trial to Islamabad, says NAB should refrain from ‘political engineering’
–Condemns arrest of Sindh PA Speaker Agha Siraj, says ‘there’s no one law for every Pakistani’
KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday termed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as the “bureau of political engineering” as he lashed out at the corruption watchdog for “dragging” him in Benami (fake) accounts case.
Bilawal was reacting to the transfer of the fake accounts case to Rawalpindi from Karachi. The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Bilawal’s father and former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.
“The transfer of the case is a violation of jurisdiction,” Bilawal said while addressing a press conference here. He added that NAB should also hold its officials accountable for their actions.
“In the case, the FIR, accused, accounts, transactions, companies, banks etc all are in Sindh… What is in Rawalpindi?” said Bilawal.
He said that the probe authority should refrain from political engineering.
The PPP chairman said that the party leaders are being dragged in the benami accounts case. “Even if an angel is made the chairman of NAB, he will do political engineering.”
“The law of NAB is a black law,” the PPP chairman said, adding that the institutions made during former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s era arrested Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani from Islamabad.
“I object [and] I condemn [it] in the strongest possible words,” Bilawal said.
Bilawal said it was known that NAB’s allegation of assets beyond means can be placed on anyone and added that “there is no one law for every Pakistani”. He added that the allegation could be levelled in a manner similar to when a police officer plants drugs or alcohol on an innocent person and jails them.
The PPP chairman said in the case of Durrani, he was taken into custody based on an allegation and there was no evidence of any corruption having been committed. He said if there had been evidence it would have been presented “but raiding his [Durrani’s] house after the arrest gives the message that there was no evidence”.
He said a raid could be carried out to find evidence, but also to falsify and plant it.
“You’re giving a message like you did before,” the PPP chairman said, without explaining.
He said the PPP could not tolerate the way Durrani’s house was entered into following his arrest and added that it was against their human rights and religious beliefs.
Bilawal said the PPP and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had previously condemned the way the women in Durrani’s family had been allegedly misbehaved with.
“I am sad to say that the chairman NAB has till today not taken any action against this very serious accusation, on this violation of human rights, on this violence against women … no action was taken,” he claimed.
“This silence gives us the message that the chairman NAB condones such actions,” the PPP chief said.
He demanded that the NAB chairman conduct an investigation and hold his officers accountable otherwise “we [ourselves] will have to take action”.
Bilawal said actions allegedly conducted by NAB do not take place in any democracy or society with a rule of law. “Once again let me emphasise that the NAB should not be used for political engineering,” the PPP chairman said.
Bilawal said this was why his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, had said in the Charter of Democracy (CoD) that NAB needed to be done away with. However, he conceded that it was partly his party’s failure that it did not bring any reform to NAB while it was in power.
The PPP chairman questioned the rationale behind the Supreme Court taking suo motu notice of such a case during the elections last year.
He recalled that the suo motu was taken due to violation of human rights because of slackness in the investigation, but added that in his perspective the case did not fall into the domain of suo motu or the violation of human rights.
“Even if it did, this case was not slack,” Bilawal claimed, adding that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered in the case, a preliminary report was presented and the case was ongoing in the banking courts.
“How can you say it is slack?” he asked, and said that if this case from 2016 was seen to be not progressing, “then what about the cases regarding the murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the murder of Benazir Bhutto as well as the Asghar Khan case?”.
He said alleged that the slackness in the investigation was all of a sudden turned into a human rights case, in what he claimed was a response to a press conference he held in Ghotki during the elections.
“But you don’t see the worst rigging in the history, you don’t see the violation of human rights, the ending of freedom of press and freedom of speech,” he said, without naming his addressee.
He alleged that the taking of a suo motu notice in the case sent the message that it is “all being done for political engineering”.
He added that “balancing” was not a legal concept and without specifying who he believed guilty of indulging in the practice, he said, “You can’t say in an open court [that] I want to balance it [the investigation, so] I’ll make a joint investigation team (JIT).”
“This sends a very bad message.”
Bilawal said that to then make representatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) sit on this JIT was an “undemocratic precedent that not only politicises the ISI but also politicises and militarises the judiciary.”
He noted that this was a wrong decision that had been made.
Bilawal noted that as per Article 10-A of the Constitution, the Sindh chief minister and he had the right to a free and fair trial. However, he said this right was “undermined”.
He said that for six months they had been the victims of “character assassination” in various forums and in front of various courts.
However, he said, not even once was CM Shah or himself given the opportunity to present their case before any court and added that no court had given them notice.
“The rule of law cannot function like this,” he said, adding that even if a verdict was in favour of a witness or any accused it could not be given without telling them,
“The system cannot go on like this in this country, or in a democracy,” he said.
The PPP chairman noted that another “obnoxious unconstitutional effort” was to shift the fake accounts case to Rawalpindi.
He said that this was a violation of the concept of jurisdiction and legally there was a concept of jurisdiction according to which a trial will take place where a crime is done or where an accused is based.
“But I don’t know why there is such an interest [in making sure] that every time our trial should be done in Pindi,” he remarked.
He asked that if the case, the FIR, the bank accounts, companies and transactions, in this case, are in Sindh, why was the case to be trialed in Pindi?
The PPP chairman said that the entire country had witnessed that injustice had been done with him and the way he was “dragged” into the case for political engineering.
He noted that the whole country had seen how the Chief Justice of Pakistan had summoned an ISI representative in an open court and asked him on whose instructions Bilawal’s name had been included in the JIT.
“I still haven’t received the answer to this,” he remarked.
Bilawal claimed that in the same hearing, the chief justice had announced that he [Bilawal] was innocent and his name should be expunged from the JIT and Exit Control List (ECL).
He noted that after this written orders came, which he said may have been written by someone else, which did not include the remarks mentioned above.
He added that he was shocked that when they had reviewed the decision, a judge had suggested that this had not happened and he had misunderstood.
Bilawal said that the entire media had reported on this and until today no clarification or rebuttal has come from the court.
“For me, this is very absurd. I think it can only be a mistake, an innocent mistake,” he said.
He asked the Supreme Court to look at their records again as this gave a “very bad message to Pakistan” and added, “This will undermine the credibility the institution of the judiciary.”
The PPP chairman said that he wanted a democratic Pakistan but this could not happen until courts are strong and independent and make decisions on their own.
“Justice should be done and should also be seen to be done,” he said.
Bilawal noted that Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had recently said that the SC’s journey of truth had begun and added that he was hopeful that the journey would begin with this fact.
“I want to reiterate that we want to see a strong judicial system in Pakistan,” he said.
