ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif on Monday alleged that the government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had developed a nexus for conducting a “witch-hunt” against leaders of the opposition parties.

Mr Sharif, who has just returned from the United Kingdom, was speaking during a session of the lower house of parliament.

Rejecting allegations levelled by the opposition leader, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi denied any link between the government and NAB.

The NA session, which has been called for announcement of the federal budget 2019-20, witnessed pandemonium as members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chanted slogans against each other when Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was presiding over the session, did not allow PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to speak on the floor of the house.

NA witnesses pandemonium as PPP and PTI members chant slogans against each other

The environment in the house was charged against the backdrop of the arrest of former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari by NAB earlier in the day.

The members of both the PPP and PTI gathered near the speaker’s dais, compelling the deputy speaker to adjourn session till Tuesday evening.

In his speech, Mr Sharif referred a recent interview of NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal to an anchorperson and columnist and said he [NAB chief] quoted some of the cases and projects of the ruling party.

The opposition leader claimed that he could topple the PTI government in five minutes if these cases were opened. “The remarks of the NAB chairman substantiate my claim that the government and NAB have a nexus for witch-hunt against the opposition,” he added.

He refuted the NAB chairman’s remarks, published in the newspapers, that he [Mr Sharif] had asked the NAB chairman for seeking a deal and the position of the chief minister for his son, Hamza Shahbaz. “The NAB chairman has compromised his position,” he added.

Foreign Minister Qureshi claimed that NAB was an independent institution and the government had no nexus with it. “We believe that NAB should never be used for political witch-hunt,” he added.

He said it was wrongly claimed by the opposition leader that Kashmir was not mentioned in the declaration of the recent summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which was held in Saudi Arabia. He said a separate session was held on the Kashmir issue. Chaired by the OIC secretary general, the session issued a specific declaration on the Kashmir issue.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2019