Govt, opposition trade barbs over Saad’s arrest, NAB during NA session

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.ISLAMABAD: The government and opposition traded barbs over the arrest of Khawaja Saad Rafique and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during a heated National Assembly session on Wednesday.

Speaking on the floor, former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said party members are ready if NAB is going to be used to pressurise the opposition.

“Opposition leader [Shehbaz Sharif] was arrested and till date a case could not be formed against him. Accountability institutions are being used to exert pressure on opposition parties," Abbasi said.

“We are not against accountability but the way pressure is being exerted on opposition is against democratic laws and the Parliament. Saad Rafique has said on the assembly floor that he is not related to the case,” the former premier asserted.

Abbasi continued, “Hamza Shehbaz is the opposition leader in Punjab Assembly and his name is not on the Exit Control List (ECL) yet the Federal Investigation Agency stopped him at the airport. Zulfi Bukhari’s name is on the ECL but the prime minister takes him along for Umrah and nobody asks about it.”

“What is happening today is nothing compared to what was happening during Pervez Musharraf's tenure but that was the era of a dictator. There was no democracy at that time but there is today," he upheld.

Abbasi further said, "The National Assembly speaker should not save members from accountability but should save them from revenge.”

“The country has failed the ministers but the prime minister has passed them,” he added.

“Today, NAB members are levelling allegations against opposition members. If media trials are held today then where will we get justice tomorrow?” Abbasi asked.

The PML-N leader further said, “The prime minister’s helicopter case is in NAB and if the opposition leader can be arrested then the leader of the House can also be arrested in the case. There is a case against Punjab Assembly speaker, arrest him too. There is a Malam Jabba case against the defence minister and he should be arrested as well.”

“An accountability bureau of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was set up and billions were spent but there was no one to ask. There was a court order against Jahangir Tareen but he is also roaming free,” the former premier said.

Responding to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s statements, Abbasi said that the NAB chairman was appointed after his previous performance. "If you want to do accountability, start from me and every member should reveal what they owned when they came into power.”

“Accountability should start from this House and members should share how much tax they pay. You have the department and the records. You should investigate this corruption,” he told Chaudhry.

Questioning "what corruption was done during the PML-N's term", the former prime minister said, "If the standard that has been set for Nawaz, Shehbaz Sharif and Saad Rafique is set for the current government then half the House will be inside [prison]."

"What NAB is doing today that is not accountability but the way for ruin and destruction of the country. Bureaucrats don’t work today. There is a Rs4.5 billion case against OGRA chairman Tauqeer Sadiq and seven years have passed but nothing has happened,” he lamented.

‘Let NAB do its work’

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry lashed out at the opposition following its objections to the recent arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Saad Rafique and his brother, Salman, in connection to a corruption probe.

Chaudhry, speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, claimed that “those making the most noise” did not want accountability, and called on the opposition to let the National Accountability Bureau and the courts “do their job”.

Khawaja Saad Rafique, a former railways minister, and his brother Salman Rafique were arrested after the Lahore High Court rejected their request for an extension in their pre-arrest bail in the Paragon Housing Society scam.

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, who attended today’s National Assembly session on a transit remand, slammed Rafique’s arrest and demanded a production order for the former minister.

The PML-N president also alleged that misuse of authority was being carried out in the name of accountability.

Pakistan Peoples Party's Naveed Qamar backed Shehbaz's demand for a production order to be issued for Rafique, and said the former railways minister should be allowed an opportunity to tell the assembly about the situation. 

"If the arrests continue [like this], then the National Assembly sessions may have to be held at Adiala Jail," Qamar remarked, as he expressed his reservations at the recent string of arrests. 

Fawad Chaudhry, in response, fired back that the PML-N had not had “the right upbringing” since it was not even giving him a chance to address their concerns. His remarks, however, caused an uproar from the opposition party, which demanded that the information minister take back his words.

The ensuing ruckus also saw Shehbaz and a few other leaders from the opposition walk out of the session in protest.

Once order was restored, Chaudhry called on the opposition to let NAB and the courts do their work.

“NAB is doing its work. Let NAB do its work, let the courts do their work,” the minister said, adding that the ongoing cases against political leaders were initiated during the tenure of the past governments.

“The current government won’t become a hurdle in the path to accountability,” he continued.

Chaudhry said the way the country had been run in the past 10 years was in front of everyone. “The public wants accountability for the looting carried out in the past 10 years. The current government is a representative of the public’s wishes,” he said.

“There is free and fair accountability for the first time in Pakistan’s history,” he said, adding that the prime minister is committed to eliminating corruption from the country.