Rana Sana says Nawaz to return after completing his own, ruling elite treatment

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah has said the party supremo Nawaz Sharif is busy with his medical treatment as well as treatment of the ruling elite currently.

After completing both these treatments, he would return to the country, he told a press conference here on Tuesday, along with other party leaders.

Rana Sana called upon the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of acquittal of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a terrorism case, on the request of prosecution. He said the case was unique in the way that the prosecution itself told the judge of terrorism court that precious time of the court was being ‘wasted’ on the case, which was made on political grounds.

He said the CJ should also take notice of the fact that a judge hearing a narcotics case was transferred through a WhatsApp message. He said when he applied for bail in the fake case of transporting 15-kg heroin, the judge was pressurised to refuse him bail. However, the judge said he would decide the bail application on merit, after which he was transferred through a WhatsApp message during the case proceedings. He questioned as to why the prosecution was not telling the NAB courts to stop wasting precious time on the cases filed against Nawaz Sharif and family, Shahbaz Sharif and family as well as on other cases filed against the PML-N leadership including him.

He said a federal minister from Rawalpindi recently announced that 120 new courts were being established in the country and the opposition would be wiped out through these courts within the next six months. “We don’t have confidence in such courts where judges like Arshad Malik would be appointed,” he said adding the chief justice should take notice of these 120 new courts, which were being established to target the opposition only.

He said that in case chief justice did not take notice of the Imran acquittal, the PML-N would hold a “silent protest” outside the Supreme Court. He said the PML-N would also submit resolutions to the representatives of the bar associations.

Other PML-N leaders present at the press conference were party’s Information Secretary Punjab Azma Bukhari, Malik Riaz MNA, Malik Saiful Muluk Khokhar, Rana Arshad and Rana Zafar Iqbal.

He said the 13th rally and jalsa of the PDM would be held at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. He said the jalsa would be unique and decisive in the history of Lahore and would be a referendum against the incompetent gang. He said that on Dec 13, 2020, it would be proved that Lahore had woken up. He said that Imran Khan was hiding behind institutions and was making them controversial. He said the Constitution and the rule of law could not prevail in the country if such tactics were used to silent the opposition voice.

He said the time would arrive soon when NAB itself would admit in courts that references against the Sharif family and the PML-N leadership were filed on political grounds. The PML-N leader said the case against Imran Khan was closed at the behest of the prosecution. In the same way, fake cases against other political leaders including the PML-N leaders, should also be abolished, he said.

He said that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman case had been lodged to suppress the media freedom. He said NAB needed details of everyone’s assets, but it wanted to hide details of assets of its own officers. “If NAB itself is not accountable, then how can it hold others accountable,” Rana Sanaullah said.

When Imran Khan went to Islamabad with his political cousin Tahirul Qadri, he was accompanied by thirty or twenty thousand people. The PDM would go to Islamabad with more than one million people, he announced. Nawaz Sharif has spoken the heart of the common man. And now the PDM would not be affected, he said adding that he was angry with NAB for showing him the owner of Rs40 crore and accusing him of amassing billions.

Meanwhile, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore summoned Rana Sanaullah again for Nov 10 in an investigation against him regarding assets beyond known source of income.

Rana had appeared before the NAB investigators a couple of times and had submitted the relevant record. However, he has been summoned again. The assets beyond means inquiry against Rana was upgraded to an investigation in regional board meeting on June 19, 2020. As per NAB claims, during the course of inquiry it was found that Rana owns assets more than Rs400 million. As per assets details, disclosed by the NAB sources, Rana owns two plots in DHA Lahore measuring one-kanal each, along with another plot measuring one-and-a-half kanals in the same housing society. He also owns five plots in Bismillah Housing Society.

The evidence of Rs20 million investments in Paradise Valley, Faisalabad, was also found against Rana. It was also ascertained that he owns shops worth Rs35 million. NAB sources claimed that Rana got profits worth Rs80 million from ‘Benami’ properties. However, Rana Sanaullah has declared false all such claims, terming it a politically-motivated case against him.