PM Shehbaz Sharif says lawbreakers to be dealt with iron hands

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the lawbreakers will be dealt with iron hands, ARY News reported

In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that recent incidents of damaging public and private properties is an attack on the country. He said that former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested over corruption charges against him and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is investigating the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case. PM Shehbaz Sharif says the first beneficiary of NAB amendments is Imran Khan 

He maintained that the political history of Pakistan shows that the outcome of political victimization has never been good for the country. The political parties have learned a lesson from the past which resulted in the making of the Charter of Democracy.

PM Shehbaz Sharif lambasted the PTI chairman Imran saying that in his four-year tenure, political opponents were picked and chosen for cases against them. His minister used to announce the names of opposition leaders a day before their arrest. 

The prime minister explained that in the previous NAB laws, an accused was arrested on 90 days remand but after the amendment, this period was reduced to 15 days only which was in accordance with the fairness of the contemporary laws and under courts’ observations, adding the first beneficiary of this amendment was now Imran Niazi.

He applauded the efforts of PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and how he handled the situation after the death of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. 

The prime minister said that it was the most somber and sad moment in the country’s history that PTI’s supporters inflicted severe damages to the public and private properties.

PM Shehbaz Sharif added that he never celebrates the arrest of a political leader. He said that it’s the leadership’s responsibility to control their workers and draw a line which they should never cross. 

About Imran Khan’s Al Qadir Trust corruption case, the prime minister said it was strange that how could a federal cabinet approved a huge amount related to the national kitty without opening an envelope. The cabinet members were kept in the dark, he opined.

The prime minister further questioned whether such an attitude was permitted by the religious teachings, existing laws and the democratic system that an accused should refuse to face the court of law.