Muhammad Arif Habib, an influential businessman and stock market trader, has urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to extend a friendly hand towards Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, who is in detention in Adiala Jail, and establish friendly and business ties with India.
While speaking at a program on Naya Daur TV, senior analyst Muzamal Suharwardy said that at one end, the traders claim they are non-political, but on the other hand, they give political suggestions.
"Why didn't Arif Habib ask Imran Khan during his tenure as prime minister to extend a friendly hand towards Shehbaz Sharif when he and his family were in jail?” he questioned.
Suharwardy said that these businessmen used to sit silent in meetings with then-PM Imran Khan, but now they are giving suggestions to PM Shehbaz and acting as a facilitator for Khan.
All traders, including Arif Habib, were tight-lipped during the 126-day sit-in staged by the PTI, he added.
The analyst said that the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is witnessing a bullish trend, for which Arif Habib should laud PM Shehbaz.
While responding to a question regarding the dissolution of the Supreme Court bench hearing appeals against the verdict in the case of civilians being tried in military courts, Suharwardy said that former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S. Khawaja and senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan deliberately tried to dissolve the bench in a bid to gain political advantage for the PTI and to keep the party’s narrative intact.
While talking about the ‘organized’ campaign against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Marriyum Aurangzeb, the analyst said that there is neither any corruption case nor a single proof of corruption against her. “Marriyum is in the Punjab government now, and she is a senior minister in the province, due to which few people are jealous of her,” he added.