Accountability shouldn’t be labeled as ‘political victimisation’: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had no role in the arrest of former chief minister Punjab and president PML-N Shehbaz Sharif in a NAB case.

Talking to media outside the Parliament House, he said unfortunately, accountability was labeled as political victimization, adding that political victimization had never been an objective of PTI. He said the entire nation wanted the accountability process to move on in a transparent manner. He said the PTI had not instituted this case against Shehbaz Sharif.

He said the institutions were always used for political motives in the past. He said that in this case, both aspects must be brought to media and public.

The NAB on Oct 5 arrested the PML-N president, who is the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, inside its Lahore office where he was summoned to record his statement in connection with the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.

The Bureau later issued a statement, declaring that former Punjab chief minister had been arrested in connection to the Ashiana Housing scam.

Shehbaz’s blue-eyed officers, Lahore Development Authority former director general Ahad Cheema and Fawad Hasan Fawad, are already in NAB custody in the Ashiana Housing case.

According to NAB, “the contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his aides awarded the Rs 14 billion contract to Lahore Casa Developers – a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by Railways Minister Saad Rafique”.

“Fawad, who was implementation secretary to the chief minister Punjab at the time, levelled charges of wrongdoings against Chaudhry Latif and Sons in order for the contract to be awarded to Casa Developers.”