LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Aitzaz Ahsan said on Sunday that Nawaz Sharif might get jail term because of ‘flawed’ defence in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“Nawaz Sharif as prime minister had given a ‘confessional’ statement on the floor of the house (National Assembly) regarding his family’s assets and businesses abroad. And now he’s confessing [in the accountability court seized with the assets-beyond-means case] that he’d told a lie in the house by seeking immunity from prosecution under Article 66 for his speech instead of denying his statement,” Mr Ahsan told the media at a reception here on Sunday.

Article 66 of the Constitution provides immunity to member(s) of parliament from court proceedings for anything said or any vote given there.

PPP leader terms PTI government’s 100-day plan clamour for diverting public attention from real issues

A constitutional expert, Mr Ahsan claimed that the immunity under Article 66 was not available for telling lies in the house. Questioning legal abilities of Mr Sharif’s counsel, he wondered at the soundness of the legal advice being given to the client as, according to him, the former prime minister had been given a flawed advice in the Qatari prince’s letter issue too.

Clarifying that he would not be happy to see anyone go behind bars, he however predicted that going by the legal merits Mr Sharif was set to be imprisoned on the basis of the ‘confessions’.

Mr Ahsan alleged that former NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry had attempted to rescue the ex-ruling family by distorting many facts in the references which, otherwise, were very simple to be adjudicated.

Responding to a question about the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government’s 100-day plan, the PPP leader said it was just the clamour for diverting public attention from real issues as no government could give worthwhile results within this short time.

He explained that the kind of projects announced by the PTI government were practicable in a society where the presidential system of governance was in vogue as the president there was empowered to take certain administrative steps without getting support of parliament. But, he said, in the case of Pakistan where parliamentary system was in practice, the incumbent government would not be able to do anything because it didn’t enjoy majority in the Senate.

Mr Ahsan said the PTI’s claims related to ‘change’ were far from reality as it was incapable of bringing any change. He said the PTI government was now facing embarrassment as its “bragging” on multiple issues was being exposed one after another. “The PTI must not have boasted of its likely exaggerated performance after coming to power,” he added.

At the same reception, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Tehmina Daultana said the Sharif family and the PML-N were in troubled waters, but referring to Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam’s conspicuous silence, she clarified that “the silence doesn’t mean we’ve accepted defeat”, a hint to the duo’s stance on supremacy of the civilian government. “We’re observing the situation and giving time to the PTI but without compromising our stance,” she said.

Responding to the PPP leader’s assertions, Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan of the PTI said he respected Mr Ahsan as his elder but the lawyer seemed to be politically and mentally disturbed because of [a case against] PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

A joint investigation team is probing Mr Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur’s alleged money laundering through fake bank accounts.

The PTI leader said Mr Ahsan was pointing his anger towards a wrong target.

About criticism of the PTI’s 100-day plan by both the PPP and PML-N, he claimed that his party’s 100-day governance was better than 50,000 days’ rule of the two parties because “the people are seeing that the government’s direction is right at prosperity, austerity and good governance fronts”.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2018