ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has issued a production order of Opposition Leader and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif for a third time to enable him to attend the upcoming session of the lower house of parliament starting from Friday, sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

The session has been summoned by the speaker on the requisition of the opposition which wanted to discuss a number of issues, including the alleged political victimisation of the government’s opponents by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The opposition submitted the requisition notice signed by 88 members soon after the prorogation of the assembly on Nov 9.

NAB’s role, govt’s 100-day performance and price hike are part of opposition’s five-point agenda for session starting from Friday

The opposition has submitted a five-point agenda with the notice for discussion during the requisitioned session.

The agenda includes a discussion on “use of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as a tool for political coercion, government’s 100-day performance, economic situation in the country, especially the alarming price hikes and inflation, progress of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and law and order situation in the country”.

This is the second time that the speaker has to summon the assembly session on the requisition of the opposition since the arrest of Mr Sharif by NAB on Oct 5 in connection with the investigations into Aashiyana housing scam.

Earlier, the opposition had submitted the requisition notice hours after Mr Sharif’s arrest and the session was convened on Oct 17 for which Mr Sharif was especially brought to the Parliament House by NAB authorities from Lahore after issuance of his production order by the speaker.

Later, the speaker again issued the production order of Mr Sharif for the regular session of the assembly which continued from Oct 29 to Nov 9.

In his two speeches on the floor of the assembly, Mr Sharif had lashed out at NAB, alleging that there was an “unholy alliance” between the bureau and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and complaining that the bureau had been active only against PML-N people.

Mr Sharif had also raised questions over a meeting between NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal and Prime Minister Imran Khan, asking the former to explain under what capacity he had met the prime minister, who was also facing investigations by NAB.

New cases against ex-PM

Sources in the PML-N said that the party members would also lodge a protest in the assembly over the government’s decision to forward four new cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to NAB as well as against the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on charges of hiding their foreign assets, misuse of funds in erecting a security fence around the Raiwind residence of Sharifs; plundering of funds allocated for entertainment and gifts; unauthorised use of the prime minister’s aircraft by Maryam Nawaz and the then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Announcing the government’s decision in a news conference last week, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar had alleged that a ‘hidden’ property of the Sharifs had been found in the United Kingdom. He had claimed that the government had collected documentary evidence of the property rent that the Sharif family used to receive from 2012 to 2016 for the property.

The opposition parties, particularly the PML-N and the PPP, have been criticising NAB for the past one year for its alleged “one-sided accountability”. The opposition parties allege that NAB, which had been created by former military dictator retired Gen Pervez Musharraf in 1999 through an ordinance, had always been used as a tool for carrying out political victimisation of opponents.

The opposition members even submitted a “question of privilege” in the National Assembly and demanded immediate intervention of the house in the matter. The speaker did not first give weight to the opposition’s move, but later assured them that he would take up the matter with the NAB chairman.

The opposition once again included the issue of alleged political victimisation by NAB on top of its agenda, indicating that the bureau would come under fire in the upcoming session as well.

The opposition is already flexing its muscles to give a tough time to the government over the recent incidents, including the martyrdom of police officer Tahir Dawar in Afghanistan.

Mr Dawar, who was chief of Peshawar police’s rural circle, was kidnapped in Islamabad on Oct 26, and his body was found later in the Afghan province of Nangarhar.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2018