Bilawal appreciates MQM for speaking up for Zardari's production order

Innocent until proven guilty is a right not a privilege, said Bilawal.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday has appreciated Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for speaking up for democratic constitutional right regardless of political differences. In a tweet, Bilawal said that MQM had demanded to issue production order of former president Asif Ali Zardari on the floor of National Assembly on Tuesday.

I must appreciate MQM for speaking up for democratic constitutional right regardless of political differences. On the floor of the house yesterday they demanded the production order of President Zardari. Innocent until proven guilt is a right not a privilege.

— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) June 19, 2019

Innocent until proven guilty is a right not a privilege, he added.  

Earlier, during the session, Speaker Asad Qaiser asked opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for budget speech but PPP parliamentarians protested and demanded production orders of Asif Zardari.

Afterwards, several PPP leaders regretted the decision of the speaker regarding non-issuance of the production order and announced to hold press conference.

On June 10, Asif Ali Zardari had surrendered himself to a team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected his and his sister Faryal Talpur’s pre-arrest bail plea in the money laundering case.

Following the refusal of bail, a team of anti-corruption watchdog accompanied by police personnel had reached the residence of PPP co-chairman and arrested him.

Asif Zardari was taken to NAB office in Rawalpindi where he was shifted to cell no 2.

On the occasion, small scuffles erupted between police and supporters of PPP outside his family’s residence in Islamabad as he was taken into custody.

The charges in the latest case centre around allegations Zardari laundered vast sums of money through suspect bank accounts and companies.

NAB is conducting investigations in pursuance of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the money laundering of billions through fake accounts case wherein it forwarded the joint investigation team (JIT) report with directions to investigate and file references.

Zardari has repeatedly dismissed allegations he had a hand in the scheme. Never popular and always shrouded in controversy, Zardari -- who was once jailed for 11 years for corruption -- stepped down from the president s office in 2013. But he has continued to serve as co-chairman of the opposition PPP.