LAHORE: In a rather unanticipated reaction, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, adviser to the prime minister on accountability and interior, suggested a reporter, who attempted to equate the decision to allow former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to travel abroad with an NRO, to ask the question to the “agriculture department”, implying the involvement of a secret agency.
Reporter: who gave NRO to Nawaz Sharif & @MaryamNSharif ?
Shehzad Akbar: ask the ‘Agriculture Department’! pic.twitter.com/mcpNPdc8Oq
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) August 22, 2020
The response, an open secret in power circles, came during a press conference held on Saturday to announce that the federal government had approached the United Kingdom government for Sharif’s extradition.
The term was coined in 2018 when a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for Punjab Assembly alleged that he was manhandled by the security personnel of a secret agency over his refusal to withdraw from the upcoming elections. In a statement to media, Rana Iqbal Siraj had said the personnel raided his godown and threatened to destroy his business in case of non-compliance.
However, Siraj had later backtracked his statement, saying it was the officials of the agriculture department who raided his godown and not the security personnel.
Akbar, however, later clarified that his statement did not refer to any state institution. He said he had referred to “adept” PML-N leadership who “fooled the entire nation into believing Sharif’s forged medical reports.”
یہاں یہ واضح کرنا بھی ضروری ہے کہ میرے بیان سے اگر قومی سلامتی کے اداروں کے بارے میں کوئی غلط تاثر پیدا ہوا ہو تو وہ بے بنیاد اور حقیقت سے عاری ہے اور کسی ادارے یا شخص کی دل آزاری پہ میں معذرت خواہ ہوں
— Mirza Shahzad Akbar (@ShazadAkbar) August 22, 2020
The government in November last year allowed the former premier to travel abroad for medical treatment after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended for eight weeks his sentence in Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference. Sharif has been residing in London ever since.
Independent observers claim the decision to allow Sharif to leave the country was a result of a silent agreement reached between the establishment and the opposition PML-N. The alleged deal comes on the heal of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vow to not give NRO to those facing corruption probes.
The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was a controversial ordinance issued by then president Pervez Musharraf in 2007. It granted amnesty to politicians facing corruption, money laundering and murder cases.