NAB on trail of Nawaz Sharif family

Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday suggested to freeze all assets of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children. NAB’s Lahore branch also recommended to include Mr Nawaz Sharif and his children Hassan, Hussain and Maryam Nawaz’s names in the Exit Control List (ECL).

The bureau demanded to launch investigation against federal minister for finance Ishaq Dar for having asset more than income. The NAB has also dispatched a summary to head office in this regard while reference over Al Azizia Mills has also been approved.

The Supreme Court had directed NAB to prepare three references in which one was regarding Al Azizia Steel Mill while the other two were about London flats and 16 offshore companies held by the Sharif family. The Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified Mr Sharif, 67, for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children in connection with the Panama Papers scandal within six weeks.

NAB chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on August 29 said the apex court's verdict would be implemented in letter and spirit. Meanwhile, Mr Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz said that those behind disqualification of Nawaz Sharif were hiding but the former Prime Minister was standing in the open.

Addressing a gathering of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) to advance the election campaign of her mother Begum Kalsoom Nawaz in Lahore, Maryam Nawaz said the defeated ‘bat’ (a reference to Imran Khan) was now hiding in mountains in sheer disregard to the plight of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s people who weere facing dengue onslaught in the province where his party rules.

The PML-N leader said the people would tell the conspirators on the election day that their “decision is Nawaz Sharif and the opponents will have to accept it.” She said now Nawaz Sharif was in the public court and whatever the people decided would be accepted by her party.

She said September 17 election was not merely an election but “a dividing line between the sanctity of vote, democracy, power of the people, service of Nawaz Sharif and the conspirators — who weakened the power of vote and derailed progress of the country.”

Maryam Nawaz said that she felt grateful to disqualification verdict as, she claimed, it had raised the popularity of Nawaz many times. “Today everywhere is Nawaz Sharif and everyone is Nawaz Sharif,” she went on.