Malik concerned over arrest warrants for ailing Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Senator Abdul Rehman Malik warned the government not to expose former president Asif Ali Zardari to COVID-19 by arresting. Expressing his concerns over the issuance of arrest warrants for former president Zardari, he said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) shall refrain from arresting him because of his serious medical history. He said that the government was claiming a sharp drop in coronavirus cases in the recent past while Asad Umar has announced all of the sudden created a hype to impose Section 144, "I had stated last week that government had Section 144 in its bag to use against Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) making the excuse of COVID-19," he said.

He said that on the other hand, it is highly condemnable that the government wants to expose Zardari to high risk to COVID-19 hype and take him to jail whereas he has been seriously sick. He said that Zardari’s medical report submitted by the medical board to the Senate Standing Committee on Interior showed that his health is going down day by day and suffering from multiple diseases which is a matter of public record.

He said that it will be fatal if he is exposed to COVID-19 with illness and his age factor. He said that he, therefore, warns PM Imran khan and his cabinet that they will be held responsible for any untoward incident happens to Zardari. “It will be a criminal act warranting FIR if anything happens to former president,” he added.