ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government for expressing no confidence in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and warned that soon the PTI would turn against those who had brought it to power.

Talking to media after attending trial proceedings in the LNG terminal reference in an accountability court, Mr Abbasi said it was the same ECP whose presiding officers had been “picked up in dense fog”.

He said that the PTI had started blaming the commission after losing recent by-elections and the main reason for its criticism of the ECP was the foreign funding case because the decision in the case was obvious.

The government would not last even a single day when the ECP would decide this case, he claimed.

Mr Abbasi accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of “minting money from foreign funding”. Referring to the application filed by the National Accountability Bureau in the Lahore High Court, seeking cancellation of PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz’s bail in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, he said it proved that NAB was active in politics.

Mr Abbasi “expressed sympathy” for NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal and alleged that the government was blackmailing him for political reasons.

He claimed that the lawmakers of the ruling party had expressed no confidence in their own leadership as they did not vote for the finance minister in the Senate elections.

He accused the government of stealing the election for the post of Senate chairman and alleged that the government had rigged the election and installed hidden cameras at the polling booth.

The PML-N leader said that re-election of Sadiq Sanjrani as Senate chairman was a re-play of the 2018 elections and warned that the country could not sustain such unjust tactics.

Earlier, the accountability court summoned prosecution witness Abdul Rashid Jokhiyo on March 26 for recording his statement.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021