LAHORE: The PML-N says the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government is not serious about changing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law in accordance with the observations of the Supreme Court as Prime Minister Imran Khan and the establishment are not ready to compromise on the ‘arm-twisting’ role of the bureau.

“The government has yet to consult the opposition on the proposed amendments to the NAB Ordinance. The PML-N will reject any proposed amendment which is not in line with the observations of the apex court and Supreme Judicial Council in this regard,” PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah told a presser here on Thursday.

He said since the PTI and the establishment were using the NAB for political engineering and arm-twisting the government would not bring about any such amendment that eliminate this role of the bureau. He said Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had also talked about the political engineering of NAB and also moved against it in the court.

To a question, Sanaullah said PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique had met with Mr Elahi in personal capacity and they were not hatching any conspiracy. He said there had been no back door contact with the PML-Q.

The former law minister said the government was using NAB against Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif to keep him under pressure.

To another question about Shahbaz’s interview in which he revealed that two senior journalists had brought the message from the establishment before the 2018 polls to finalise names for his cabinet, Sanaullah said: “Shahbaz Sharif did not give any such interview to Sohail Warraich.”

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020