LAHORE: Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz desires the higher judiciary first take notice of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman’s controversial interview regarding accountability of the Sharifs before adjudicating on his (Hamza’s) bail plea.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, he said by saying in the interview that he was personally taking pains in drafting questionnaire and cases against the Sharifs, NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal had admitted that he was biased against the family while his prediction that new bench was being formed to hear his (Hamza’s) pleas and he would soon be behind the bars spoke volumes of the “victimisation agenda”.

Hamza demanded that the judiciary should take up the matter of the controversial interview before a decision on his bail petition in the NAB cases.

Hearing of Hamza’s petition will be taken up by a Lahore High Court division bench comprising Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi and Justice Waheed Khan on Monday (today).

Soon after taking oath of his office, Prime Minster Imran Khan met the NAB chairman for, what Hamza alleged, fabricating cases against the Sharifs. He said the situation had reached the point of targeting the judiciary. Referring to the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, he regretted that the news against the judge was leaked before serving notice on the judge himself and alleged that the same unit was behind this episode which had been behind defaming the politicians.

The opposition leader regretted that former federal minister Babar Awan was roaming free while he had been found guilty of corruption worth millions of rupees in the Nandipur Power Project and he was also having meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Referring to Federal Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s statement that unelected people were making decisions in the incumbent government, Mr Hamza said the statement said it all that Jahangir Tareen, the PTI leader disqualified by the apex court in a NAB case, was acting like a de facto prime minister. He lambasted the government for not ensuring proper health facilities for the citizens as around a dozen newborn children had died because of alleged air-conditioning system failure in a Sahiwal hospital. He also criticised the government for failing on development, investment and price control sectors.

The PML-N leader said the present government had obtained Rs1,000bn additional loans during its first nine months in power while foreign direct investment dropped by 52pc and the value of local currency went to the record low, leading to hike in prices of items of daily use.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2019