Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday appeared incensed over frequent walkouts by the opposition parties in the National Assembly (NA) and termed their move ‘a tactic to seek an NRO (a term used by the government for opposition seeking relief from corruption cases).
In a tweet this morning, PM Khan wrote: “In a Parliament that costs taxpayers billions yearly, yet another walkout in NA by the Opposition shows that this is the only function they intend to perform.
These are pressure tactics to seek an NRO & evade accountability for corruption in NAB cases not initiated by PTI.”
In a Parliament that costs taxpayers billions yearly, yet another walkout in NA by the Opposition shows that this is the only function they intend to perform. These are pressure tactics to seek an NRO & evade accountability for corruption in NAB cases not initiated by PTI.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 15, 2019
The opposition, mainly the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), staged a walkout from the NA yesterday (Jan 14) after leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif completed his speech in which he raised questions over Mohmand Dam bidding contract issued by the government.
When Federal Minister for Water, Faisal Vawda, stood to respond to the criticism of PML-N, the opposition members staged a walkout.
Vawda expressed his resentment on the opposition benches for leaving the House without listening to the government’s version.
The PTI-led government has been accusing the opposition for making several attempts to seek an NRO and a way out to evade accountability over corruption, however, the opposition parties, particularly the Pakistan People’s Party and the PML-N, have rejected the government claim.
Couple of days ago, PML-N leader Hamza Shehbaz stated that the government was giving a wrong impression that opposition was looking for an NRO.
‘Let me clarify that we have no desire for NRO,’ he said during a media talk recently.
Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed also claimed that Nawaz Sharif was seeking NRO for Maryam Nawaz but former president Zardari was not interested for the same deal for his son Bilawal.
Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry also stated couple of times recently that the government was receiving indirect offers from the opposition to accept the NRO deal.
