LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah rejects the opposition demand for focusing on just the prime minister and his family in the Panama Leaks probe, arguing that “selective” accountability will be unacceptable to the masses like in the past.

“The accountability must be across the board as people will not accept the practice of pick and choose,” Sana told the Press Gallery Committee of the Punjab Assembly while briefing its members on the business the government intends to introduce in the three-week assembly session starting on Friday (today).

“The pick-and-choose accountability had been rejected by the people during Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Musharraf regimes,” he said. He recalled that the actions of an Ehtesab cell during the previous tenure of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also remained unacceptable to the masses.

Sana hinted that people like him in the PML-N could publicly differ with the party leadership if it somehow accepts the opposition demand for the Sharifs’ accountability alone.

He rejected the opposition’s plea that the process of across-the-board accountability could take years and corroborated Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid’s argument that lists of those who had their bank loans written off could be produced within minutes.

Similarly, the law minister said record of mega corruption scams of the PPP era such as rental power, Hajj and EOBI scandals could be retrieved in a short time.

He also took exception to Imran Khan’s claim that he received Rs750 million house as gift from his first wife (Jemima) after divorcing her. He said proper accountability would also expose those who misappropriated Zakat funds and donations raised in the name of charity projects.

Replying to a question about penalty on those found guilty in the accountability, the minister said personally he believed that the real penalty would be imposed by the voters in the 2018 elections and that his party would accept the decision.

Asked about harassment of women in the PTI’s Lahore rally, the law minister said the suspects were being identified with the help of Nadra database and would be arrested. He once again took a jab at the PTI leadership for what he said introducing a culture alien to the people and thus “creating an environment for eve-teasing”.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016