As the Senate rejected the two FATF-related bills moved by the government yesterday, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said they would now allow establishing a fascist state.

“The opposition did not defeat the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) legislation in the Senate session. [It] defeated a system which the government wanted to bulldoze [through the House],” he remarked.

Ahsan, who was talking to reporters after appearing before an accountability court in Islamabad, said, “We would not allow Imran Khan to become a Hitler.”

He said the opposition had sincerely agreed with the government for the legislation in connection with FATF, but the ruling party backtracked at the very last moment.

“I also want to tell the national institutions that the government and the military are on the same page, but the hate for Imran Khan is also moving towards the national institutions,” he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s latest statement that he won’t give NRO to anyone, Ahsan questioned who had requested him for an NRO.  

The PML-N leader said the experiment of PTI coming into power had failed, adding that the army chief should take notice of the matters.

“[I am] sure that the army and the military institutions have nothing to do with these vindictive actions of the government,” Ahsan added.

The remarks came after Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday night said the opposition in the Senate had defeated two critical FATF-related bills. “From day one, I have maintained that the self-serving interests of the opposition leaders and the country's interests are divergent,” he added.

Imran, in a series of tweets claimed that the opposition leaders were desperate to save their corrupt money by trying to prevent Parliament from functioning and trying to sabotage the efforts to exit FATF grey list.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1298300719104167948 

The prime minister again stated that his government would not allow any NRO no matter what happened.

On the other hand, PPP leader Senator Sherry Rehman rejected the claims made by the prime minister, saying the two bills had been opposed in the Senate because powers to arrest without warrants were being given to police and investigators.

“This is neither required by FATF nor is it defensible in any form of even the most illiberal democracy. These laws are being used to push a draconian agenda,” she added

https://twitter.com/sherryrehman/status/1298307098833571841 

The PPP senior leader also made it clear that the FATF did not require “economic terrorism” bills where all due process had been suspended. The opposition had worked very hard in committees to amend the laws to save both Pakistan from grey list and from being an international pariah for shocking abuse of fundamental rights, she added.

https://twitter.com/sherryrehman/status/1298308294788952070 

Sherry added that the FATF was being used to expand the scope of NAB to witch hunt opposition while making Pakistan a police state with no checks on a corrupt government.

https://twitter.com/sherryrehman/status/1298310547658747904