Nawaz may be out of jail in a month or two, hopes Khursheed

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader Syed Khursheed Shah on Friday said the case against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not stand in the higher courts and he may get a clean chit and come out from jail in a month or two.

Talking to media persons here, Khursheed Shah advocated for meeting of the opposition leaders. He said Nawaz Sharif was in jail, however, a meeting with him was possible when he comes out. The PPP leader said it won’t be an insult if Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as in the past premiers used to defend themselves in courts.

“In the past, the courts gave decisions against ex-prime ministers Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Nawaz Sharif, while the former president Asif Ali Zardari also appeared before the NAB and courts of law. Now if Prime Minister Imran Khan appears before the court then it will not be an insult,” he said. The PPP leader said Imran Khan should keep in mind that time doesn’t always remain the same. Khursheed Shah said the courts, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and NAB are constitutional institutions and they are summoning former prime ministers and president. He was of the opinion that parameters of justice should be equal for everyone. “If there are two kinds of parameters for justice then questions will be raised,” he said.

To a question, he said there is no deadlock between the government and opposition on the formation of standing committees. He said the opposition will meet with the Minster of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on January 15 to finalise the formation of standing committees. He said the opposition parties are on same page in the parliamentary proceedings. “But one thing should be kept in mind that the PPP and PML-N are two different parties and may have a different political approach,” he said. To a question about the government’s plan to introduce another mini-budget in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah said it will be a new record that the sitting government is presenting the mini-budget for the third time. “Recently they imposed new taxes, raised GST, increased interest rate and now it is feared that they are bringing heavy taxation,” he said, adding naturally the opposition will oppose it.

Khursheed Shah said though it is the duty of the government to collect taxes as no country could run without them, but these should not be collected from the poor, and rich should be taxed. “The government is yet to come out with a policy and measures to broaden the tax net,” he said.