PPP denies reopening of NAB cases against Sharifs

The government in the Senate on Wednesday disassociated itself from the action of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reopen corruption references against Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif while dubbing it part of the 'establishment conspiracy' aimed at rending the coalition, especially the two major political parties of the country.

Senators from the PPP and the PML-N termed the NAB action to reopen the cases against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif as part of the establishment conspiracy to create misunderstandings between the two major political parties of the country.

Leader of the House in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani told the house that the government had never asked the NAB to reopen the cases against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif. "Media reports on revival of cases against the Sharif brothers are baseless. The PPP does not believe in political victimisation. We are signatories to the Charter of Democracy and would continue following it," he added.

Even Law Minister Farooq H Naek told the house that he had summoned the NAB chairman to inquire about this matter. "We do not believe in political vendetta and the cabinet has already taken a decision to repeal the NAB," he said, adding, he could assure the house that no cases against the Sharif family were being initiated.

Parliamentary Leader of the PML-N in the Senate Ishaq Dar termed the NAB plea to the court to reopen the cases against the Sharif family part of conspiracy of the establishment. "But we will not come into their trap and will not indulge in any conspiracy to destabilise the present government. We will not lend our shoulders to anyone to destabilise the present government," he added.

He said the PML and the PPP, along with all the democratic forces, jointly struggled against dictatorship and we will not let the struggle for the democracy to go waste. "We will protect the government from destabilisation while sitting on the opposition benches in pursuance of the Charter of Democracy," he added.

He said the PPP should not worry about the future of their government and there is no need to look to different groups for their survival. Meanwhile, speaking in the Senate, Leader of the House Mian Raza Rabbani said the PPP and the PML-N would continue following the Charter of Democracy in its true spirit and would bring political as well as economic stability to the country.

He discouraged the statements by certain circles encouraging the role of Army in politics and said: "The Army has nothing to do with politics." He said the previous government too, never informed the opposition about the prime minister's visit to Senate, and stated that the party flourished under the umbrella of the martial law has no right to criticise the democratic set-up.

He said after September 11, 2001, the previous government took U-turn in its policies just after a phone call from abroad.

Regarding a statement from a senator about the killing of five women in Balochistan, he said: "Pakistan is a multi-ethnic state and we should consider norms and tradition of others," adding that, the statement was his personal viewpoint.

He said the previous government remained silent over the matter of Dr Aafia Siddiqui despite the fact that it handed her over to the US. "We got consular access to her, summoned the US ambassador and demanded her return. We are not toeing the US line," he told the Senate.

Raza Rabbani said in his publication titled, "In the Line of Fire," former president Pervez Musharraf also admitted that citizens had been sent to the Guantanamo Bay against money. Rebutting the criticism on the NRO, he said that the PPP was not the sole beneficiary of it and it was not the 'stumbling block.'

"The PPP leadership sacrificed innumerable lives, including that of its great leader, and faced imprisonment but the Musharraf regime failed to prove any charge against it," he added. He said it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that both the houses and all provincial assemblies united to oust the dictator and achieved success.