Opposition rejects Justice Azmat-led Inquiry Committee on Broadsheet

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Two main opposition parties have rejected the formation of the Inquiry Committee on Broadsheet led by Justice (retd) Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday trashed the inquiry committee set up by the government on the revelations made by Broadsheet owner Kaveh Moussavi.

PPP Senator Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said probing the Broadsheet issue amounted to befooling people. He was of the view that the appointment of retired Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed as the committee head was proof of the government’s bad intentions.

“Making him the committee head means that the government wants to put all blame of the Broadsheet issue on the preceding governments,” he apprehended and said Justice (r) Azmat Saeed had not only been NAB’s prosecutor but is also a member of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital’s Board of Governors (BoG).

Bukhari said since Broadsheet was not an ordinary case, but a serious one, therefore PPP wanted a transparent inquiry into it.

Senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said the appointment of Justice Azmat Saeed proved that Prime Minister Imran Khan is trying to protect the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and himself.

In a tweet, Ahsan Iqbal said “Azmat Saeed was also on NAB panel when Broadsheet deal was done under former president Pervez Musharraf.”

Talking to newsmen outside the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on Friday, another PML-N leader Atta Tarrar said “Justice Azmat Saeed does not have the right to probe the Broadsheet issue because he was the NAB prosecutor when the Bureau struck a deal with the Broadsheet.” Tarrar said the PML-N’s policy regarding Broadsheet is very clear. “The conflict of interests in quite visible in the Broadsheet case,” he added.

Senior anchorperson Hamid Mir has questioned the logic of appointing Justice(r) Sheikh Azmat Saeed as head of the inquiry committee formed on Broadsheet issue.

In his tweet on Friday, he said when Justice (r) Saeed was a member of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital’s Board of Governors (BoG), he was astonished as to why he, a retired Supreme Court judge, did not see conflict of interests in the case. “Why on earth he gave his consent to become the head of a probe committee?” he questioned.

The federal government on Thursday had appointed Justice (r) Sheikh Azmat Saeed as Head of Inquiry Committee formed to probe the Broadsheet matter. This was shared by the Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz in a tweet.

Shibli Faraz said the government had constituted a committee that will answer the inquiry questions within 45 days.

Reportedly, the prime minister had expressed his intention to constitute a body to investigate the much-hyped Broadsheet matter two days ago.