LAHORE: After Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has summoned three lawmakers, including a provincial minister of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in various corruption investigations.
According to the Dawn newspaper, the NAB's back-to-back notices to PTI lawmakers, including Chief Minister Usman Bazdar, in corruption cases had sparked speculation about a change of command in Punjab.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who spent his day in the provincial capital on Friday, was unable to pat his "Wasim Akram Plus" as he had openly praised him during his visit last month.
Punjab Minister for Labor and Human Resources Ansar Majeed Niazi, MNA Malik Karamat Khokhar and MPA Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena have been summoned to NAB Lahore on August 19, 13 and 17, respectively.
Ansar Majeed Niazi is facing charges of corruption in appointments and transfers / postings in Punjab Employees Social Security Institution.
Ghazanfar Abbas China, an MPA from Bhakkar, has more assets than income from known sources, while Malik Karamat Khokhar, an MNA from Lahore, has been told to move / immovable in the names of himself and Malik Tauqeer Abbas. Appear in person to explain the record submitted to the NAB regarding assets.
Ghazanfar Abbas China, who is considered very close to Chief Minister Bazdar, had spoken out against the then Chief Secretary Azam Suleiman and IGP Shoaib Dastgir's move to empower Imran Khan to take decisions without political influence. ۔
He demanded that the province's chief executive and legislators be empowered to run the affairs of the province.
The NAB has summoned Usman Bazdar on August 12 on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 50 billion to force the Excise and Taxation Department to issue liquor licenses for violating the law.
Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chauhan has said that the Chief Minister will appear before the NAB to defend the 'false allegations' against him.
A PTI insider told Dawn that the NAB notice to Chief Minister Usman Bazdar confirmed the news that he did not have the capacity to understand the existing files.
"If Usman Bazdar's relative had not received Rs 500,000 from the hotel owner in the matter of issuing a liquor license, then it would have been a matter of failure to understand the government's business," he said.
He said that this corruption would lead to governance problems in Punjab against Usman Bazdar and would force Prime Minister Khan to rethink his choice.
He said that if Imran Khan thinks of replacing Usman Bazdar with 'NAB stain', then Aleem Khan, Mohsin Leghari, Aslam Iqbal, Hashim Jawan Bakht and Yawar Abbas Bukhari will be in the PTI Punjab parliamentary party. However, the role of PML-Q is also important in this regard.
He said that with 10 MPAs, PML-Q fully supports Usman Bazdar and if Prime Minister Khan decides to replace him, he will have to take Chaudhry Pervez Elahi into confidence or Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. Must be given first priority.
Meanwhile, the PML-N has demanded the Chief Minister to resign till the completion of the NAB probe against him.
League leader Azmi Bukhari has demanded in a statement that "if Usman Bazdar remains in office, he could affect the NAB's investigation into the liquor license case against him."
