Being subjected to fake Ehtesab: Nawaz

ON BOARD PM’S SPECIAL PLANE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said a person had been subjected to ‘fake accountability’ (Ehtesab) who committed the ‘offence’ of pressing the nuclear button way back in 1999 to make the country a nuclear power.

Talking to newsmen in his special aircraft during the return journey from Tajikistan in the evening, he said the nation had given him the mandate for a full five-year term, had faith in him and firmly believed in his development-oriented policies.

Flanked by Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, federal ministers Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Nawaz had a candid discussion with newsmen on the country’s political situation and regional developments. He was in a pleasant disposition and his talk was punctuated with laughter.

Nawaz said the masses would again vote his party into power in 2018, as they were aware of its ability to deliver and bring about a sea change in their lives.

Asked about the ongoing questioning of his family members by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), he said: “There is nothing to fear, as our hands are clean. I expect a good decision from the Supreme Court”.“What are the allegations against me? Have I looted the national exchequer? Have I done some corruption or got kickbacks?”

Nawaz said his family business was being scrutinised since 1972 when he was a student. He regretted that his family business matters were being exploited for political gains. He said conspiracies had been hatched against his government time and again and expressed the optimism that this time too his opponents would fail miserably.

“I have never accepted defeat. We faced the 2014 sit-in and another round in 2016 and will Insha Allah sail through this crisis too,” he maintained.The prime minister said his family had been victimised by Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, while their Ittefaq Industrial units were also nationalised in 1972 and not a single penny was paid on account of that. “Yet we are being held accountable,” he said.

Regarding his visit to Tajikistan, the prime minister said it had opened up new vistas of
cooperation with the Central Asian Republics and said his dream of regional connectivity and economic interaction was finally taking shape. Nawaz said he had an extensive interaction with the leaders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. “There was a vast scope of investment by the Pakistani investors in Tajikistan, as the country needed infrastructure and industrial units to strengthen its economy,” he added.

He said Pakistan had also provided the shortest possible route to the Central Asian Republics to the sea and rest of the world. However, he said without peace and stability in Afghanistan, little progress could be made and the region could remain in turmoil.

He said Pakistan had always made earnest efforts for improvement in ties with all its neighbours and was particularly keen for better relations with Afghanistan as their economic prosperity was closely linked.

He said Pakistan had not blocked the Afghan trade with India but India will not be given land access for trade with Afghanistan.Nawaz vowed that he would conveniently deal with his political opponents who were earlier taken to task by the people in November last year when they tried to subvert law and order in the federal capital.

Nawaz had whirlwind two-day visit of Dushanbe capital city of Tajikistan where he had a bilateral meeting with the host President Imam Ali Rehman and attended the quadrilateral meeting on CASA-1000 and trilateral meeting with Afghan and Tajikistan presidents on security issues.

The prime minister said he had always been at the forefront in his desire for resolution of the lingering Kashmir dispute with India and recalled that he initiated the dialogue with the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1999 and later attended the oath-taking ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Modi in 2014.

Sartaj Aziz revealed that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had refused access to Tajikistan for laying a transmission line for supply of electricity to Pakistan as long Pakistan doesn’t give India access for two-way trade with Afghanistan from Wagah.

Pakistan has declined to facilitate India as long its bilateral problems exist with it, especially atrocities and brutalities in the Indian Held Kashmir. He said more than 100 innocent Kashmiris had been martyred and over 200 made blind by using pellet guns.