LAHORE: NAB has arrested PML-N President (Ex-CM Punjab), Shehbaz Sharif her today in Ashiana Housing scandal. He will be produced before Accountability Court tomorrow.
Commenting on the development Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Fawad stressed the importance of Accountability in order to shatter the status quo. He further said that the arrest was first in a series of arrests to be made in the coming days.
Information Minister while talking to the Media at an event in Khewra near Pind Dadan Khan stated that accountability process would move forward. He went on to remind that these are the people who have plundered the national wealth through corruption and caused huge damages to the national exchequer.
Holding that NAB was an independent institution, he said people wanted across the board accountability of all the corrupt elements. He said that the country would make progress with a transparent system of accountability.
The minister said there was no role of any minister or government official in the arrest of former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif by the NAB authorities. He made it clear that he never talked about the arrest of Shehbaz Sharif.
To a question, he said it was strange that transactions of billions of rupees being done in the accounts of cooks and drivers.
It is pertinent to mention here that ousted prime minister’s principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad had reportedly admitted that he acted according to the instructions of Shehbaz Sharif.
Readers may recall that NAB had probed the Ashiana scam following receipt of complaints apropos a shady deal involving 1517571m of land.
Responding to the PTI-Govt.’s act PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb termed the arrest of the Leader of the Opposition as an act of political revenge. She pointed out that Shahbaz Sharif was summoned by NAB in Saaf Pani case but was arrested in Ashiana Housing Scheme.
PML-N spokesperson, who had no prior information about the arrest, claimed that neither government land nor funds were utilized in the Ashiana Housing Scheme. Continuing to defend her Party leaders Marriyum PML-N leadership has gone through accountability, but corruption of not a single penny had been proved.
Insisting that Shehbaz Sharif had carried out numerous projects in various parts of Punjab, specifically focused on backward areas for development, Marriyum said that PML-N leaders were pondering over the situation and the party would soon figure out a modus operandi to react.
Son of Shehbaz Sharif pointing finger at Imran Khan held that the PM himself was involved in helicopter case. He said that nabbing of Sharif family members should stop.
Khursheed Shah of PPP-P condemning the arrest asked the government to avoid political victimization. He insinuated that since the government was resorting to such actions because it had failed to deliver on its 100-day agenda.
Relevant: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan Friday said the whole nation wanted the elements involved in corrupt practices punished. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which was an independent institution, had apprehended the former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana Housing Scheme scam and the government had nothing to do with it, he said talking to a private news channel. The minister said NAB had been carrying out an inquiry into alleged corruption by Shehbaz Sharif in the housing scheme and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had no role in that regard. NAB chairman Justice ® Javed Iqbal was also appointed by the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, he added. Ali Muhammad said the PTI government wanted a strong accountability system to eradicate the menace of corruption from the country. To a query, he said if Hamza Shehbaz had any evidence regarding his father, he should present the same before the court.
