ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling party defended its controversial Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) on Saturday after opposition parties and the legal fraternity slammed the government’s accountability drive following the quashing of a presidential reference against senior judge, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, by the Supreme Court on Friday.
The legality of the ARU established by Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2018 has been repeatedly called into question for its sweeping powers and for targeting senior members of opposition parties.
The unit, formed without the backing of Parliament, was set up to repatriate illegal offshore assets and bring looted wealth back to Pakistan-- the linchpin of PM Khan’s election campaign.
“The ARU is a legal organization which will continue its work despite baseless allegations and propaganda by the opposition parties and a few others in the legal fraternity,” chief of ARU and the Prime Minister’s special assistant on accountability, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, told Arab News via telephone on Saturday.
Akbar said the ARU was established as per the government’s ‘rules of business’ and all its appointments and actions were validated by the federal cabinet.
“This is a coordinating unit which facilitates other public organizations to expedite the accountability process,” Akbar said.
On the Supreme Court’s remarks, he said all terms of reference of the unit were placed before the court for the satisfaction of the judges.
Accountability was the main agenda on the ruling party’s manifesto, Akbar added, and said the public had “given the mandate to Prime Minister Imran Khan to hold corrupts accountable.”
PM Khan rose to power in 2018 pledging accountability across the board, but critics have often termed the drive a politically motivated witch-hunt.
In the most recent criticism of the government’s initiative, senior lawyers once more raised questions on the legal status of the unit after the corruption case against Justice Isa was thrown out by a 10-judge full court.
“This government has made a mockery of justice and accountability with the questionable so-called assets recovery unit leading the drive,” Syed Amjad Shah, vice-chairman for Pakistan Bar Council, told Arab News.
“We are observing all the mala fide workings of the recovery unit and may challenge its very constitution in the Supreme Court in the coming days,” Shah said.
“The government’s whole accountability process is tainted as it is trying to implicate only the opposition members who have been criticizing its performance,” Senator Mushahidullah Khan, a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker, told Arab News.
He added the ARU was “unconstitutional” as it was not approved by Parliament and was meant to influence other independent organizations like the National Accountability Bureau in the government’s favor.
“This body should be abolished immediately to restore the public’s confidence in other departments-- that they are working freely,” he said.
Echoing Mushahidullah’s viewpoint, a senior leader for Pakistan Peoples Party, Sehar Kamran, told Arab News the assets recovery unit had “failed to recover even a single rupee so far.”
“This unit is a political tool in the hands of the government for victimization of the opposition,” she said.
Government defends anti-corruption unit as opposition, lawyers slam accountability drive
https://arab.news/j2kq2
Government defends anti-corruption unit as opposition, lawyers slam accountability drive
- Says Asset Recovery Unit is legal organization with all actions validated by federal cabinet
- Pakistan Bar Council may challenge constitutionality of unit in Supreme Court
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia explore joint investment push in high-growth regions
- Both sides discuss combining Pakistan’s production capacity with Saudi capital and regional market access
- Government says Saudi side expressed interest in corporate farming in Pakistan, particularly in rice sector
KARACHI: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are looking to jointly tap high-growth regional markets and align production and capital strengths, according to an official statement on Wednesday, following talks between Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan and Saudi Investment Assistant Minister Ibrahim Al-Mubarak in the Kingdom.
The two countries have long maintained close bilateral ties that have evolved into a multidimensional strategic partnership.
In October last year, the two countries launched an Economic Cooperation Framework aimed at shifting relations beyond aid toward sustainable trade, investment and development links. The framework followed the signing of a joint security agreement a month earlier, under which aggression against one would be treated as an attack on both.
“A key focus of the discussion was the joint exploration of regional markets, particularly Central Asia, Africa, and ASEAN, identified as high-growth regions offering significant opportunities for collaboration,” according to a statement circulated by Pakistan’s commerce ministry after the meeting.
“The two sides agreed that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, by leveraging their respective strengths, can position themselves as complementary partners — combining Pakistan’s production capabilities with Saudi Arabia’s capital strength, market access, and regional connectivity,” it added.
The Saudi side expressed interest in corporate farming in Pakistan, particularly in the rice sector, with discussions covering mechanization, storage and logistics to enable consistent, long-term exports under structured arrangements.
Talks also covered broader cooperation in agriculture and food security, including rice, fodder, meat and other agri-products, with the potential involvement of Saudi financing institutions in supporting export-linked agricultural and infrastructure projects.
Corporate farming and mechanization were discussed as long-term solutions to productivity challenges in crops such as cotton, where declining yields and high manual input costs have hurt competitiveness, the statement said.
Human resource development emerged as another area of focus, with both sides noting shortages in mid-tier skills such as nurses, caregivers, technicians and hospitality staff.
The Saudi side expressed openness to replicating vocational “train-to-deploy” models in Pakistan that link training programs directly with overseas employment opportunities.
The meeting also examined opportunities in building materials, pharmaceuticals, sports goods, footwear and light manufacturing, with both sides agreeing to pursue sector-specific workshops and business-to-business engagements to translate policy alignment into tangible trade and investment flows.
