Bilawal Bhutto appreciates MQM's effort to support Zardari's production order

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday acknowledged Muttahida Qaumi Movement's efforts for demanding the production order of former president Asif Ali Zardari.

“I must appreciate MQM for speaking up for democratic constitutional right regardless of political differences. On the floor of the house yesterday they demanded the production order of President Zardari. Innocent until proven guilt is a right not a privilege,” Bilawal tweeted.

The PPP chairman added, “Despite one year of cooperation, no flight risk and no conviction President Zardari has been arrested so government can rig budget. People of Nawabshah deprived of their right to be represented in budget process. First time in the history of Pakistan four members arrested and not produced for NA.”

A day earlier, members of the Opposition and government coalition parties signed a petition for the issuance of Zardari's production order.

According to sources, at the request of PPP, members of the government coalition parties signed the petition application.

The petition application was signed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Syed Aminul Haque, Balochistan National Party Chairman Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Balochistan Awami Party’s Khalid Magsi and Jamhoori Wattan Party’s Shahzain Bugti, sources added.

On June 10, the National Accountability Bureau arrested Zardari in the fake bank accounts case from Islamabad after a bench of the Islamabad High Court had rejected a plea filed by Zardari and his sister, Faryal Talpur, seeking an extension in their interim bail in the fake bank accounts case.

The case pertains to transactions worth hundreds of millions of rupees to the two leaders' private companies, allegedly, through fake bank accounts.