Gilgit-Baltistan leader and activist Sajjad Raja slammed the Pakistan government over the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, saying that nobody can dare to touch army generals, and the state is only busy “persecuting the opposition leaders”.”Pakistani Justice and Governance – nobody can dare to touch army generals and the state is only busy persecuting the opposition,” Sajjad Raja, chairman of the National Equality Party JKGBL, wrote on Twitter. The statement comes in the backdrop of PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Raja made the remarks on Twitter after tagging PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s tweet, where she said: “If there was accountability and justice in Pakistan, not Shahbaz Sharif, but Asim Saleem Bajwa and his family would have been arrested.”On Monday, Nawaz said that Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif was arrested only because he refused to “play into the hands of those who wanted to use him against his brother” former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.”Make no mistake. Shahbaz Sharif has been arrested ONLY because he REFUSED to play in the hands of those who wanted to use him against his brother,” the PML-N leader said in a tweet.
This development comes after major Opposition parties in Pakistan formed an alliance — Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the sacking of his top aide Lt Gen (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa over corruption allegations.They have announced a three-phased movement against the Pakistan government under an “action plan” starting from October. It plans to organise nationwide protests in December and a “decisive long march” towards Islamabad in January 2021.
Last week, Pakistan’s anti-corruption body had issued a notice to Opposition leader and Jamiat Ulema e-Islam’s Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman, asking him to appear before its investigation team in October.According to Dawn, the notice against Rehman and others pertains to “corruption and corrupt practices/accumulation of assets beyond means”, which was issued by the country’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB).The notice directed the JUI-F chief to appear before NAB on October 1 and to “record your statement/plea in the subject inquiry”.
