The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday granted conditional permission to Shehbaz Sharif to travel abroad once for medical treatment but on Saturday when he was about to board the plane to UK, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) stopped him from flying abroad despite LHC order. The court has also revealed that on the basis of merit there is no case against Shehbaz Sharif and that they have not found any misuse of his office. His name has also been removed from Exit Control List (ECL). This has caused a political storm in the country with government and opposition (PML-N) organizing press meeting to clear their sides and to attack one another.
The host of the show Mohammad Malick pointed out that at a time when the focus of the PTI government should be fighting the pandemic, inflation and other issues, it has misplaced its priorities and focusing all energy into stopping Shehbaz Sharif from travelling abroad.
He asked is the government afraid that Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif’s re union is a danger singal for PTI and might strengthen the PML-N as a strong opposition leader or even an alternative for the PTI? Why the NAB did not challenge the court’s order?
Guests: Shahzad Akbar-SAPM on Accountability, Muhammad Zubair- Senior leader PML-N, Chaudhary Manzoor Ahmad- Senior Leader PPP & Farrukh Habib-Minster of State for Information.
Shahzad Akbar pointed out that what the opposition is saying is limited to narrative building and there is no legal merit in their arguments. The SC has already said in an order that it is not right to talk about bail orders based on facts. The case against him is assets beyond means and this order can be appealed. He informed that the NAB will challenge the court’s decision and its there call when to do it and there is no connection between NAB and PM, Imran Khan has nothing to do with when NAB challenge or not. He informed that the FIA stopped Shehbaz Sharif based on another list called ‘’person-not-in-list’, which is equally important as the ECL. We will take this issue to the courts and try our best to stop him from flying out of country.
Muhammad Zubair questioned the action of the government and the way they used FIA to stop Shehbaz Sharif at the airport from using his fundamental right. He argued that this is not Riyasaat-e-Madina that Imran Khan keeps talking about but a security state where force is used by the government according to their convince. He countered the government’s stand that Lahore high court is favoring the PML-N and underlined that this is a misconception and questioned the government’s misuse of NAB. PTI is sacred that they might have to face an early election and that why they are speeding up cases.
Chaudhary Manzoor Ahmad in a sarcastic manner pointed out that he is happy that as a result of the deal between PML-N and government, Shehbaz Sharif has got bail and earlier Maryam Nawaz and Hamza also got bail on the basis of this understanding. The rest of the PML-N leaders behind jail will also be freed but at the same time a new reference has been filed against Asif Ali Zardari. The government is saying that system is not updated and therefore they have to stop Shehbaz Sharif but once he reach UK, then the system of the PTI will fail as a result. He also pointed out that the main issues in the country are not debated but this is given more importance, the priorities of the government are really misplaced.
Farrukh Habib pointed out that these are conspiracy theories that the meeting of Sharif brothers in UK might prove detrimental for PTI government, nothing of that sort will happen. He added they can also talk on phone and strategies against the government but the real issue is that there are cases against Shehbaz Sharif and his name has not been cleared from many cases, the references against him are still intact. There are loopholes in the system that they misuse and explore, he is under trail and cannot leave the country.