Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday challenged the government to reveal the names of those who had sought the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
“No member of PML-N has contacted the government seeking an NRO … they should reveal their names if they have guts,” the former prime minister told media outside an accountability court in Islamabad.
Avoiding questions on details regarding his meeting with Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman a day earlier, Nawaz said, “I respect him a lot. I do not wish to speak to media regarding my meeting with him and will instead share the details with my party and Shehbaz Sharif.”
Commenting on Shehbaz’s arrest, Nawaz said, “He worked very hard and with honesty. The work he did while risking his life is in front of the entire nation and not just the people of Punjab. No other provincial chief minister in the country’s history has worked the way Shehbaz did. He deserves all the praise but instead he is in jail and NAB’s custody.”
“Can anyone tell why all this is happening?” he questioned. “Not even corruption worth a rupee can be proven against us. Shehbaz was called in the Saaf Pani case and since there was nothing about it, they arrested him in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme case. Now, that they cannot find any evidence against him in the housing case, so they are saying that he owned assets beyond known sources of income. What is this joke?” he said. “This is all very upsetting. Where do we want to take Pakistan to?” he asked.
Published in Daily Times, October 30th 2018.