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MARYAM REITERATES NOT TO BE ‘EASY PREY’ AS NAB postpones hearing
The National Accountability Bureau on Thursday announced to postpone the hearing of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz which was due to take place on Friday (today). According to a press release issued by NAB, a meeting was held to discuss the hearing along with the recommendations issued by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) […]
The National Accountability Bureau on Thursday announced to postpone the hearing of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz which was due to take place on Friday (today).
According to a press release issued by NAB, a meeting was held to discuss the hearing along with the recommendations issued by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) in view of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. “The meeting was informed that the NCOC has placed a complete ban on the gathering of all sorts of crowds,” the press release said. It noted that Maryam had been issued notices to appear before NAB investigation teams for a second time on March 26. “However, considering the NCOC recommendations, and in view of public interest, NAB has taken the principled decision that accused Maryam Nawaz’s appearance in NAB Lahore on March 26 has been postponed,” read the statement, adding that a new date for her appearance would be announced at ‘an appropriate time’. The meeting also decided to direct the NAB administration to reverse all security measures that were being taken in preparation for the appearance, according to the handout.
Following the PML-N’s decision to gather maximum party leaders and workers outside the NAB provincial headquarters on March 26, the bureau had sought ‘foolproof security’ from the government, asking it to deploy Rangers and police personnel. NAB had said its Lahore office might ‘come under attack’ from political workers and others on the occasion of Maryam’s appearance. On the bureau’s request, NAB Punjab headquarters and surroundings had also been declared a ‘red zone’.
The press release stated that when Maryam had last made an appearance, the NAB Lahore office had ‘deliberately been assaulted and pelted with stones which is tantamount to hampering NAB’s investigation’. It noted that a case was registered against the culprits behind such unlawful acts in the relevant police station. It warned that under the National Accountability Ordinance’s Section 31 (a), demonstrating a non-cooperative attitude in investigation, hampering the investigation or misleading the officers conducting the probe, can lead to a 10-year imprisonment. “Despite these legal provisions, NAB has thus far demonstrated patience and forbearance,” the press release said.
NAB had summoned Maryam on Friday as part of two probes – a money laundering investigation in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, and another related to 148 kanals of land that she allegedly purchased in Lahore illegally.
Speaking to reporters in Lahore soon after the bureau’s announcement, Maryam reiterated that she would “not become an easy prey for NAB”. “It is time for atrocities to be ended,” she remarked. “If [Imran Khan] wants to silence an opponent or cannot fight an opponent on political grounds and his political opponent needs to be put in jail for six months, then NAB is used,” she alleged.
Maryam claimed that PML-N leaders had always followed the law. Speaking about the possibility of her arrest, Maryam questioned what additional details NAB needed when it had already held her for 48 days.
Prior to the announcement by the NAB on Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he will “not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands” during PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s appearance at the National Accountability Bureau’s Lahore chapter. The premier’s remarks came during a meeting with the government media team at his residence in which he was briefed on the country’s political situation.
