LAHORE: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif yesterday said his party does not desire to win elections and form a government but demands accountability.

“The nation should know that those who used to cry ‘thief’ are thieves themselves, the biggest thieves. This is our demand,” he said at a PML-N parliamentary board meeting in Lahore.

“Our demand is not to form governments after winning elections and then roam about in big cars,” the former premier stressed, saying that while the PML-N was determined to serve the country, it also wanted the truth to be brought in front of the public.

“Who ruined the country? Who brought the country to this point today? Why are the poor starving today? All these things are eating up the country.

There should be accountability. “We are not sitting here to get into government, we want the well-being of the country and the 250 million people living here,” Nawaz asserted. “Pakistan is going through a tough time today and we have created these difficulties ourselves.

We punished the people who wanted to serve the country and brought forth those who were playing an evil game,” he claimed in an apparent reference to ex-premier Imran Khan.

The PML-N leader, without taking any names, said a person was brought to power who knew nothing about politics, economy or foreign policy. “He only talked about ‘Riyasat-i-Madina’ but didn’t know anything about ‘Riyasat-i-Madina’ in the true sense,” he said.

Nawaz went on to say that the “biggest corruption scandal in the history of Pakistan” was the £190m case and that there was “no doubt about it”.

The case alleges that Imran and Bushra Bibi obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government. Last week, the National Accountability Bureau filed a reference in connection with the case.

“This biggest evidence is that they waved a sealed envelope in a cabinet meeting] and asked for signatures on it. At least show us what is inside the envelope but they took approval by putting on blindfolds,” Nawaz claimed.

He further highlighted that the Supreme Court had recently ordered that an amount of Rs35 billion, which was remitted to the apex court’s bank accounts maintained in the name of the SC registrar in the Bahria Town settlement, be transferred to the federal government.

“This was a huge theft and corruption,” he said. “On the other hand, we were sent to jail for not taking salaries from my son.”

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 09 2023

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