PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday said the move by the National Accountability Bureau, — which he referred to as the "bureau of political engineering" — to arrest the speaker of the Sindh Assembly on "trumped-up charges" was highly condemnable.
"I object [and] I condemn [it] in the strongest possible words," said Bilawal while addressing a press conference in Karachi.
The PPP chairman said it was known that NAB's allegation of assets beyond means can be placed on anyone and added that "there is no one law for every Pakistani".
He said the allegation could be levelled in a manner similar to when a police officer plants drugs or alcohol on an innocent person and jails them.
Bilawal said in the case of Durrani, he was taken into custody based on an allegation and there was no evidence of any corruption having been committed. He said if there had been evidence it would have been presented "but raiding his [Durrani's] house after the arrest gives the message that there was no evidence".
He said a raid could be carried out to find evidence, but also to falsify and plant it.
"You're giving a message like you did before," the PPP chairman said, without explaining.
He said the PPP could not tolerate the way Durrani's house was entered into following his arrest and added that it was against their human rights and religious beliefs.
Bilawal said the PPP and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had previously condemned the way the women in Durrani's family had been allegedly misbehaved with.
"I am sad to say that the chairman NAB has till today not taken any action against this very serious accusation, on this violation of human rights, on this violence against women ... no action was taken," he claimed.
"This silence gives us the message that the chairman NAB condones such actions," the PPP chairman said.
He demanded that the NAB chairman conduct an investigation and hold his officers accountable otherwise "we [ourselves] will have to take action".
Bilawal said actions allegedly conducted by NAB do not take place in any democracy or society with a rule of law. "Once again let me emphasise that the NAB should not be used for political engineering," the PPP chairman said.
