PML-N spokesperson dissociates party's position from Malik Ahmad's demand

She said a parliamentary committee should be formed to probe the matter regarding NAB’s chairman.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday dissociated the party from the stance of PML-N MPA Malik Ahmad Khan – who earlier in the day hold press conference and demanded the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to resign – by stating that “it was his personal opinion over the matter.”

“The demand of NAB chairman’s resignation and filing of a case against him is Malik Ahmad Khan’s personal opinion [after video audio scandal] and not the party’s position,” she stated.

Furthermore, she maintained that PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi have already given the party’s stance as clear as daylight.

She said a parliamentary committee should be formed to probe the matter regarding NAB’s chairman.

Malik Ahmad Khan demands NAB chairman to resign

Earlier in the day, PML-N Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Malik Ahmad Khan demanded the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to resign.

He held a press conference in Lahore, and stated that allegations against PML-N president and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif were made without evidence.

“He should not have been arrested in Saaf Pani and Ashiana cases,” he said, adding that Shehbaz has demanded constituting a parliamentary committee to probe the matter.

“We will file a case against NAB’s chairman and a [renowned] columnist [over a controversial interview],” he added.

Khan further asked whether the NAB was an extrajudicial institution, while mentioning that people were forced to commit suicides.

“What does the NAB think that no one is there to hold them accountable?” he asked, adding that when the bureau is asked about the reason behind arrests, it responded that it had “secret documents.”

“Did Shehbaz Sharif transfer money abroad in Ramzan Sugar Mills case? Where is it written that NAB’s chairman could configure questionnaires himself?” he further questioned. He added that if the NAB were to decide about national interests, then parliament must be locked down.

Earlier, the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, in his talk to the media after appearing before an accountability court in Lahore, said his party’s stance on the matter of NAB chairman was clear.

“It is PML-N’s demand that a fact-finding committee be formed in the assembly,” Hamza told reporters.

Hamza said Shehbaz Sharif had been arrested in the Ashiana scandal but nothing came out of it. “The government’s own report on the Peshawar Metro Bus has determined corruption amounting to the tune of $7 billion. Things cannot proceed the way they are in present state. The opposition parties will unite for demanding clarification from him [NAB chairman].

These matters must be made clear, otherwise, people will not accept this process of accountability.”

He stressed on the need to present facts to the general public “as the NAB chairman’s post was not a joke, rather a constitutional position. The revelations made in the article…A decision must be made on these issues first.”

“Pakistan has been undergoing an economic meltdown, while the NAB has been arresting traders and spreading fear and panic amongst investors,” he added, while recalling observation from the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) that the accountability watchdog “has not been doing its job, and needed to present evidence not just make arrests.”