Reacting to the arrest of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that all thieves become ‘Nelson Mandela’ after their arrest.
Speaking to journalists in the Parliament House corridor, the premier said, “Today, Agha Siraj Durrani has been arrested.”
“First, they loot the country and then when they are arrested, they become Nelson Mandela,” they added.
The PM later attended the National Assembly session.
Moreover, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “Whatever action NAB has taken today, it has taken independently. It does not consult with the government in any way. Our own senior minister from Punjab was arrested and today they have arrested the Sindh Assembly speaker.”
“All of this has nothing to do with the government. We do believe that the accountability process should be kept separate; it would be inappropriate to mix it with politics,” he said during a media briefing.
Fawad said it was highly important that the accountability process remain independent and should run freely.
“This is why during all of NAB’s operations, even if they are against our own people, we have always supported the rule of law,” he said.
He said that the PTI government expects the same kind of support from all political parties.
“If they want to see Pakistan progress, they will have to support the rule of law,” the info minister reasoned.
Earlier in the day, the NAB arrested Durrani from Islamabad. The case against Durrani that led to his arrest pertains to the accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income. He was arrested from a hotel in Islamabad before being taken to NAB headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The bureau had initiated three separate inquiries against Durrani last year for allegedly owning assets beyond means, illegally recruiting 352 individuals on various government positions and embezzlement of funds for the construction of the MPA Hostel and construction of the new Sindh Assembly building.
