Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Barrister Shahzad Akbar Friday said that Pakistan Muslim League-N president Shehbaz Sharif had never responded to queries of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) about facts of the cases against him pertaining to money laundering and corruption. Addressing a press conference at 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, he said that as per the case facts, payments were deposited to Gulzar’s account from Aurangzeb Butt and another front man Masroor Anwar, who was involved in depositing cheques, withdrawing cash and then depositing it to the Sharif Family’s account but Shehbaz Sharif had never given any clarification about the facts. Regarding the affidavit of Rana Shamim in Islamabah High Court, Shahzad Akbar quoted PPP leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan’s viewpoint on the ‘Sharif’s doctrine’ to either approach the judges or attack them for getting decision in their favour, adding that audio tapes of Shehbaz Sharif, Abdul Qayyum Malik and Saifur Rehman were evidences of the ‘Sharif’s doctrine’. He said that Maryam Nawaz’s case of Avenfield Apartment was fixed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) but the Sharif family used delaying tactics when the court ordered to proceed the case, then they surfaced an alleged audio tape of Justice (retd) Mian Saqib Nisar while the reality of this tape was also exposed within two days even a common man could evaluate genuineness of such audio tape, he maintained.
Highlighting the achievement in the foreign policy domain, Qureshi said the government had given a new direction from geo-politics to geo-economics for the welfare of people.
He said the country’s economy has now touched a 5.37% growth rate regardless of the contraction caused by COVID-19 to the international economies.
He said according to a survey of the World Bank, Pakistan’s agriculture sector is growing by 3.3%. He said the country’s exports and remittances also hit record levels, while the statistics show that per capita income is also on the rise.
Qureshi admitted that inflation poses a major challenge to the public. He, however, said there are several international factors behind it, including an increase in the price of gas and petroleum products in global markets.
He said the government welcomes criticism from the Opposition, but they should not spread despondency amongst the people as it is not in the interest of the country.
“We took painful decisions to stabilise the economy.”
Speaking in the National Assembly, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal said judging by the foreign minister’s speech, it seems like he works for every other ministry except for his own.
“It felt like Shah Mahmood was giving an interview to someone during his speech […] I saw Shaukat Tarin, Dr Hafeez Sheikh, and some others in Shah Mahmood,” he said.
The PML-N leader said FM Qureshi actually had to tell the House about the students who are stranded in Pakistan and want to go back to China for their studies – and the foreign minister did not answer.”
