The “gang of corrupts” were getting clean chits nowadays under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) II granted to them by former chief of army staff General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, claimed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday. In his address via video link, Khan made the remarks in the backdrop of Salman Shehbaz’s, the son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, returning to the country after ending over four years of self-imposed exile in London. Khan said that Gen (retd) Bajwa committed cruelty to the country by granting NRO-II to the gang of corrupt elements. Lashing out at the former army chief, the PTI reiterated that his government was toppled under a conspiracy and thieves were imposed on the country. “Salman Shehbaz, who was an absconder in Maqsood Chaprasi (a peon at the Ramzan Sugar Mills) case, has also returned and given lectures to us, while Nawaz Sharif is planning to return (homeland),” he said. Imran reiterated that rule of law was essential for any country and only strong and independent country could progress while a slave mentality will never achieve anything.
He added that former dictator General (retired) Pervez Musharraf gave the first National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while former COAS Gen Bajwa gave the second version of the NRO to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government who were now busy getting their cases of massive corruption white washed. He also accused Gen Bajwa of unleashing tyranny on the nation.
In his address a day earlier, the former prime minister had lamented on his ‘helplessness’. He had said that when he was in power, former army chief General (retired) Bajwa asked him to focus on the economy and not accountability. “Gen (retd) Bajwa told me to grant NRO II to the then-opposition when [the government had to pass laws related to the] Financial Action Task Force. It was Gen (retd) Bajwa who gave NRO II to the then-opposition.”
