ISLAMABAD    -   Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former adviser to the prime minister on accountability Brigadier (retd) Musaddiq Abbasi on Tuesday fired a salvo at the ruling coalition and said that the present set-up wanted to wrap up the accountability system in the country only to avoid possible punishment.

He alleged that the nine-party coalition wanted to seize power on a one-point agenda and this was to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the top anti-corruption watchdog, to escape accountability. Reacting to the statement of former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the former adviser in a statement said that a country could never be prosperous   where the elite and privileged class enjoyed immunity and could not be punished for wrongdoings and corrupt practices.

He said that the leaders of different parties of the ‘imported government’ were facing serious corruption charges against them and they have yet to answer before the courts. The PTI leader stated that their emphasis to abolish the institution of accountability was an attempt to escape accountability and protect their loot and plunder.

He expressed his shock that in a system based on justice, the accused could not become a judge. “Ironically, we are being ruled by corrupt leaders facing corruption cases worth billions of rupees,” Musaddiq added.He revealed that even when the PTI sought their cooperation to make necessary legislation to fulfil conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), these ‘self-centered’ political parties came up with a package to abolish the NAB.

The PTI leader asked that the ruling parties should respond to the allegation against their leaders and get their names cleared of corruption rather than targeting the NAB and the accountability system. In April this year, PML-N leader Abbasi had asked the government to dissolve the NAB and hold its employees accountable.