Pay back "looted" money and leave Pakistan: PM Khan to Zardari and Nawaz Sharif
Islamabad, Jul 2: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has declared that his government would not offer any amnesty to politicians like ex-president Asif Ali Zardari and premier Nawaz Sharif accused in corruption cases but if they returned the "looted money" under a plea bargain, they could leave the country.
Khan also revealed that the incarcerated former prime minister Sharif's sons tried to secure the release of their father with the help of "two friendly countries."
Khan did not reveal the names of the two countries but said they just conveyed him the message but did not press for Sharif's release.
"They told me that we will not interfere," said Khan, who was accompanied by the adviser on Finance, Hafeez Sheikh, and Federal Board of Revenue Chairman, Shabbar Zaidi.
Sharif, 69, has been serving a seven-year prison term at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore since December 24, 2018 when an accountability court convicted him in one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court's July 28, 2017 order in the Panama Papers case.
Sharif and his family have denied any wrongdoing and alleged that the corruption cases against them were politically motivated.
In May, the apex court rejected Sharif's review petition seeking bail on medical grounds and permission to go abroad for medical treatment.
Khan said that those convicted for corruption would not be allowed to go away until they gave back the stolen money.
"They need to return the country's money first then they can go anywhere they want," he said.
"If Nawaz (Sharif) wants to go abroad for his medical treatment then he should return the looted money first and if Asif Ali Zardari has such an issue he should return the money," Khan told ARYNewsTV on Monday.
"The NRO will not be offered," he said, referring to a deal similar to the National Reconciliation Ordinance issued by former dictator Pervez Musharraf, under which cases against a large number of politicians and political workers were dropped.
"Two NROs issued by Musharraf to [PML-N's 'supreme leader'] Nawaz Sharif and [PPP Co-Chairman] Asif Ali Zardari destroyed the country... Later, both of them also gave NROs to each other," Khan said.
The prime minister added, "Money launderers are being kept as VIPs. I have asked the law ministry to shift them to a jail where regular prisoners are kept."
"A plea bargain can be allowed and no foreign country can do anything. They (Sharif and Zardari) will have to pay the money," he said.
Former president Zardari is in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for his role in three corruption cases.
He has been named in a multi-million dollar money laundering case along with his sister Faryal Talpur.
According to the NAB, the duo made transactions of Rs 150 million through alleged fake bank accounts.
Khan also spoke about the economy and said that it would improve as the difficult time was over.
Khan said his government had spent USD 10 billion on debt servicing on loans taken by the previous governments.
"A comprehensive plan is being devised including new legislation to control smuggling and money laundering," he said.
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
