Shehbaz Sharif, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) and President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), vowed on Thursday to take on selected Prime Minister Imran Khan on all fronts, saying the premier’s “careless” statements were influencing foreign policy.
He stated the prime minister was using ‘indecent’ language outside Special Court Central, where he had gone in connection with the hearing of a money laundering case against him and many others. “The claims he’s making these days aren’t serious,” he added, adding that he’s playing politics on the cheap.
He uses such ‘filthy language,’ according to the PML-N president, that it could not be repeated in front of the people. “Whatever excellent image the country had in the eyes of the rest of the world has now been ruined,” he said.
He went on to add that the prime minister’s “irresponsible” foreign policy pronouncements would have a bad impact on the Kashmir issue as well.
Hamza Shehbaz, the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly and Shehbaz’s son, spoke on the occasion, saying that the continuous use of terms like ‘Chaur aur daku’ had begun to grate on people’s nerves.
Hamza wondered if this was how the countries’ foreign policy was developed, referring to Prime Minister Imran’s speech at Mailsi in which he chastised the European Union for pressuring him to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Imran Niazi made the statement at such an inconvenient time,” he continued, “that even Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin had to disagree.”
Imran Khan should tape his month to muzzle himself, Hamza suggested.
The absence of the lawyer defending Usman, a co-accused in a money laundering case involving Leader of the Opposition and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and others, had angered the Special Court Central judge.
The judge questioned Ata Tarar, counsel for Shehbaz and others, where the petitioner’s lawyer was during the hearing of Usman’s plea in which he disputed the court’s jurisdiction.
Tarar said that the lawyer was in Islamabad because he had Supreme Court responsibilities. “This is not the way to proceed with the lawsuit.” Usman first filed a petition, which caused the hearing on the money laundering case to be halted, and now his lawyer has failed to appear in court. “Do you want me to just sit here and do nothing?” inquired the judge.
Shehbaz’s lawyer, Amjad Pervez, complained to the court at the time that his clients had not been provided readable copies of the challan. “After all, acquiring legible copies is the accused’s right,” he added, adding that the FIA officers had been hiding the challan files for 14 months. “The truth of the situation is that these copies were supposed to be delivered to the accused within 14 days,” he said.
He went on to say that his customers should receive not just copies of the challan, but also copies of the testimonies given by witnesses in the case.
