Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the opposition parties would not let ‘selected’ Prime Minister Imran Khan escape accountability, reported 24NewsHD TV channel. 

Talking to the media outside an accountability court in Lahore, he said, “You Niazi! Call others absconders. Truth of the matter is that you are an ‘absconder’,” he said, adding, “You must remember this thing that I, my brother Nawaz Sharif and son Hamza Shehbaz have spent time in jail.”

Shehbaz claimed that millions of people had become jobless. “But the problem is that ‘selected’ premier thinks he is an Aristotle,” he commented.

He ridiculed the prime minister’s statement, which he had made on his return from the USA and in which he had said that he felt as if he had won the world cup again. 

He reminded PM Imran that he had said during electioneering that he would commit suicide rather than going to the IMF. “What do you now say about these claims?” he questioned. 

The PML-N president said that now when the no-trust motion was about to be tabled against him, he had lost his senses. “After all, what is the issue with him when we are trying to dislodge him through constitutional means?” he asked.

Shehbaz regretted that Islamabad Police beat up Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Kamran Murtaza at Parliament Lodges in Islamabad yesterday (Thursday). “By doing so, the government has shown its ugly face,” he said, adding no matter how many times ‘selected’ employed unconstitutional means, we will remove him only through constitutional means.

On his turn, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz said that PM Imran was dumbfounded because he was worried about the no-trust move. “His condition is pitiable,” he opined. 

He expressed the hope that the no-confidence motion against the government would succeed. 

Earlier, speaking at the court’s rostrum, the opposition leader prayed to the judge that since the opposition had moved a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, and he would be busy in this connection; therefore hearing of Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana Housing Scheme references should be fixed on some other date; after March 14.     

Accepting his request, the court adjourned hearing of the cases until March 18. 

In an important development on Friday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its reply submitted to the court, opposed Shehbaz’s acquittal plea in Ramzan Sugar Mills reference, saying the case is still in its early stages. 

Reporter: Jamaluddin Jamali