Islamabad (October 11, 2018): Sweden’s Ambassador for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Annika Ben David called on Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry in Islamabad on Thursday.
During the meeting, Fawad Chaudhry said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Sweden which is based on commonality of views and shared the interest of democratic pluralism.
The minister said that Pakistan is a modern democratic state where the judiciary is independent and media pro-actively playing its role of watchdog.
He said that the government believes in freedom of expression and highly values human rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
Earlier on October 05, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had hinted that more arrests following the detention of former chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif and termed it as the first drop of rain.
Fawad Chaudhry was reacting to arrest of PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif.
The minister said, “Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest was the first, and more ‘major’ arrests are also expected in the coming days.”
“PTI government has a zero-tolerance policy against corruption. The process of accountability will move further,” he added.
Fawad Chaudhry said, “NAB arrested Shehbaz Sharif in the case registered in their government tenure. There are allegations of over Rs 56 billion in the Aashiana Housing scheme and the anti-graft body arrested PML-N President over these charges.”
The government is completely impartial in all such manner, however, whatever NAB will be provided with every assistance it needs. “NAB is an independent body and government does not control it.”
Fawad welcomed the arrest of Shehbaz Sharif and termed it a ‘big step’ by NAB.
The information minister further said, “The process of accountability will continue and the government has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption.”
Further, Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said, “The services of the former provincial chief minister are bearing fruit now.”
“All members of the former government involved in corruption will soon be behind bars,” he added.
“The nation will from now on keep hearing good news,” Chohan further said.
Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif in connection with the Ashiana Company case.
The NAB in its press release states that the former Punjab chief minister will be presented in an accountability court tomorrow (Saturday).
Shehbaz was arrested after appearing for a routine hearing of Saaf Pani Company scam at the NAB’s Lahore office. Sources told that three files were tabled before him.
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The former chief minister is accused of awarding illegal contracts to his favourite firm.
The PML-N president failed to satisfy the probing team of the bureau during the investigation and was ultimately arrested. He is likely to be presented before the accountability court on Saturday.
The Bureau quizzed Sharif regarding a tender awarded to a private consultancy company for a survey of the Saaf Pani company.
The anti-graft watchdog has claimed that the company did not conduct any kind of survey but nevertheless provided a lucrative sum of Rs 1.5 billion.
Sources said that ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad has become the approver.
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