LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has questioned the ‘quiet’ departure of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) senior leader Jehangir Khan Tareen for London despite being a prime suspect in the sugar scam.

“Where is the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which was to become Tarzan after Eid [according to Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid] while Jehangir Tareen left for London along with his son?” asked PML-N Punjab’s Information Secretary Azma Bokhari at a presser here on Saturday.

Accompanied by Attaullah Tarar, Ms Bokhari said: “The Tarzan has a different standard of accountability for Prime Minister Imran Khan, Jehangir Tareen and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif. NAB is not ready to investigate the misuse of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government helicopter by Imran Khan and the role of Tareen and federal minister Khusro Bakhtiar in the sugar scam as prime suspects.”

She said that even Tareen had accused his party’s government of raising taxes that caused an increase in the sugar price. PM Khan gave Rs2 billion subsidy on sugar and despite that it was being sold at Rs85 per kilo, she stated. The Sharif family’s sugar mills had not received any subsidy, nor exported sugar but Imran Khan and the country’s entire politics revolved around the Sharif family.

Chiding PM’s adviser Shahzad Akbar for targeting the Sharif family, the MPA said he was hiding these days to avoid filing of a reply to certain questions in a court case.

Mr Tarar asked PM Khan to submit his reply in the defamation case filed by Shahbaz Sharif against him. “(Mr) Khan has been avoiding speaking the truth in court,” he said and added that two officers of Punjab police had been removed from their posts for not arresting Mr Sharif.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has convened a meeting on Sunday (today) to review the sugar commission report.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2020