­Won’t appear before NAB today, says Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

KARACHI: The Pakistan People’s Party Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has said if someone has the courage to arrest him, he should do so as he is not afraid of imprisonment, adding he would prove to be more dangerous during incarceration.

The PPP chairman was speaking at an emergency press conference at the party’s media cell here on Monday. Flanked by senior party leaders, including Sherry Rehman, Sindh Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani, and others, Bilawal, announced that he would not appear before the National Accountability Bureau (at Rawalpindi Office) following its summons for Tuesday (today) due to his pre-occupation related to the death anniversary of his mother and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Bilawal said he was summoned by the NAB on December 24 (Tuesday) to prevent him from commemorating the death anniversary of his mother Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27. He categorically stated that he would commemorate the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27th irrespective of all the obstacles. He said there is no basis for NAB to summon him on December 24 when the entire country knows that they would be commemorating the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi. He said the government and NAB have plotted to prevent a son from commemorating the death anniversary of his mother. Bilawal said they have so far been denied due permission by the government for holding the death anniversary function of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi and it is using different pretexts to prevent them from holding the programme. “The rulers should be ashamed of themselves for stooping so low,” he said. The PPP chairman condemned the arrest of senior Opposition leader of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Ahsan Iqbal by NAB, terming it part of the government’s ongoing campaign to victimize the opposition parties. He said the next year 2020 would prove to be the year of the elections in the country and the polls would result in the defeat of the present puppet rulers and other selected politicians. Bilawal termed the NAB notices as illegal, saying the former chief justice of Pakistan while hearing the case related to fake bank accounts had declared him innocent and that he had nothing to do with this case. He said he had duly answered in detail all the questions contained in the questionnaires of the NAB, sent to him six months ago related to the case and there is no cause to summon him at this time. Bilawal said though he had never accepted the law governing the NAB while terming it a law given by a dictator, but he would duly appear before the anti graft body whenever he was summoned next time in due deference of the law. He said for the last one year, only the opposition is targeted by the government. He said it was the intent of the government to harass the opposition. “Any opposition leader who speaks up, gets arrested,” he said and asked the judiciary to protect the constitutional right to free speech and of doing politics by the opposition. He also called upon the judiciary to stop the one-sided accountability drive in the country.

The PPP chairman lamented that no provincial minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was getting notices by the NAB though the NAB chairman had earlier declared that accountability references were ready in the Malam Jabba and BRTS Peshawar cases. He said every time he decides to carry out his political struggle, he gets a notice from NAB, but said he would not compromise on his ideology. The PPP chairman lamented that government has made no progress to legislate the extension in the service of the army chief despite the detailed Supreme Court’s order. “We expected the prime minister to visit Raiwind and Bilawal House on the next day of the SC judgment in that case but now it seems the government is not at all serious in legislating about it,” he said. He said the incumbent prime minister has failed to develop a national consensus on the Kashmir problem and other aspects of foreign policy.

To a question, he expressed the hope that Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif would return to the country to perform his constitutional duties, including those related to the appointment of new chief election commissioner. He appreciated the convening of the meeting of Council of Common Interests by the PM in Islamabad after a gap of one year, saying the forum would be helpful in settling the long-pending issues of Sindh related to the Federation.