Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday remarked that he had little hopes for Nawaz Sharif to be served justice by accountability court.

PM Abbasi during an interview to a local news channel said that former PM Nawaz Sharif was willing to be jailed just to abide by his principles.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that the party’s narrative was to give respect to vote and performance as chanted by its Quaid in public rallies.

PM Abbasi expressed hope over the finialisation of the caretaker PM’s name, stating that a consensus may be reached by Monday.

He added that the government and the opposition had failed to reach a mutual understanding as both have been stressing to appoint their choice for the position of interim PM.

Previously, PM Abbasi and National Assembly (NA) Opposition leader have met six times to mull over and finalise the name of the caretaker PM, yet all ended in a deadlock.

The finalization matter is likely to be forwarded to a parliamentary committee.

While referring to deflectors, PM Abbasi said that it was far better for the party to get rid of power seekers, who stayed in power for four years and 11 months and left then shifted their loyalty when things seemed a little out of balance.

He added that PML-N still had three to four strong candidates in every constituency.

PM Abbasi commenting over Sharif’s recent Pandora box pertaining to Mumbai attacks and the following National Security Committee (NSC) meeting remarked that given the circumstances, it is extremely difficult to run the country when the leadership cannot make any decisions or when the bureaucracy is not willing to present any summary.

Furthermore the PM said that a national dialogue was needed to resolves issues in the given circumstances. He referred to National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) functioning over the past year, stating that the bureau was formed by military dictator to pressurize politicians when they were not held accountable.

PM Abbasi expressed the desire to disband NAB through national consensus, stating that its interests were worth questioning.  He added that NAB’s present functioning was doing nothing more than inflicting damage to the country.

Upon being questioned about the tax amnesty scheme, PM Abbasi said that the government had successfully included individuals into the tax net and had slashed the tax rates by one half.