Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Information Minister Shibli Faraz has fired a broadside at the opposition parties over the All Party Conference (APC), that will convene today against the government. He said “a bunch of losers will meet tomorrow to offer each other shoulders to cry on.”
“They neither have any strategy nor are we scared of them… APC will fail miserably to make any impact,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with PM’s accountability adviser Shehzad Akbar on Saturday. “Convicted criminal will also address the APC who has refused to present himself before the court,” said Shibli referring to Nawaz whose non-bailable arrest warrants have been issued by the Islamabad High Court in Al-Azizia case, in which he failed to surrender to authorities earlier this month. Senior PML-N leader Senator Pervaiz Rashid told media that Sharif had accepted Bilawal’s invitation for attending the APC via video link. He further stated Maryam Nawaz, Sharif’s daughter, would also be part of the PML-N delegation for the APC.
The information minister, also accused opposition parties of trying to create hurdles for Pakistan to come out of FATF grey list. “Every positive development in the country is the bad news for opposition… they want economy and country to collapse,” Shibli maintained.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s adviser on accountability Shahzad Akbar on Saturday defended the passing of anti-money laundering legislation in the joint sitting of parliament, alleging that the opposition did not want to turn money laundering into a non-cognisable offence which was a key demand of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The premier’s aide, addressing a press conference in Islamabad flanked by Information Minister Shibli Faraz, said that there were three parties — FATF, the opposition, and the government — to the money laundering act introduced by the Centre.
The adviser explained that the law was drafted to address the loopholes in the 2010 money laundering laws, passed by the PPP in 2010. “It was decided that those loopholes will be addressed and the law will be strengthened because due to those loopholes, there are fake accounts cases, falooda (a dessert) seller cases, and papad (crispy flatbread) seller cases,” said Akbar.
While talking about the government, Akber said it agreed with the FATF that the anti-money laundering laws should be “strict and money laundering must be controlled”.
“The PTI government wants [Pakistan] to come out of the [FATF’s] ‘grey-list’, stand shoulder to shoulder with the world and be able to say that laws in the country and their implementation are like other countries,” explained Akbar while talking about the government’s point of view.
Akbar added that during the negotiations on these laws, the opposition had “made it clear” that they did not want to accept this view.
“[Their intention was] that Shehbaz Sharif and his family’s [telegraphic transfer] case gets closed, and cases ongoing in the IHC against Asif Zardari, his family, and his frontman are shut down,” said the PM’s adviser.
He also alleged that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi wanted to “secure a deal” and get his cases closed through these laws.
The adviser further alleged that the opposition launched a “propaganda movement” to “mislead the public”. He added that the opposition, in their “campaign”, only focused on one or two things.
Akbar said that the opposition’s first objection was the “government wants to arrest people and put them in jail for six months”.
The adviser said that when he learnt of this objection, he looked into the bill and read it multiple times to see if such a law was introduced.
Akbar then took up the bill presented by the opposition and said that it was instead in the opposition bill that the power to arrest was added.
“The second clause that ‘Aristotle’ is trying to mislead the people with is on cognisable and non-cognisable offences,” said Akber. He explained that a cognisable crime is one in which an FIR can be lodged and an investigation can be initiated.
He said that a non-cognisable offence is one where “one can request the court to stop the government from investigating a charge”.
Akbar explained that by making money laundering a cognisable offence, no one’s rights were being affected, adding that he can show “dozens of offences” that are cognisable under Pakistan’s law currently.
“The only effect it has is that it is a declaration that we as a nation see money laundering as a serious offence. And FATF was demanding this statement from us (Pakistan),” said Akbar, defending the decision to turn it into a cognisable offence.
Akbar said that the opposition wants the offence to remain non-cognisable so their lawyers, who he claimed were “very clever”, use it to “extend cases for 12 years”.