LAHORE: “It was Shahzad Akbar, who dared Shehbaz Sharif to go to the court after the Daily Mail published a story alleging corruption in his dealings and now he is trying to mislead everyone, including his own party.”

Ata Tarar, deputy secretary-general of the PML-N, said this on Saturday after meeting PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in jail to update him on the issue.

He said Daily Mail accepted in the court that there were no money laundering charges against Mr Sharif as the paper had no proof of corruption.

David Rose, the reporter, also skipped hearing. All these factors led to the court decision that Mr Sharif has been unduly defamed. Now, instead of accepting the failure to prove charges, Mr Akbar is trying to mislead everyone in the country, including his own party and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He said Mr Akbar needs to explain why both the British government and the donor agency (DFID) are denying any wrongdoing in financial dealings of their money.

PML-N leaders are now getting cleared by the courts.

“They have been saying from day one that would apologize and quit politics even if a rupee corruption is proven against them. It is time for the PTI to be ashamed of its false propaganda and apologize for its wrongdoings,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2021