PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday advised the newly-elected government, which is being led by his party’s president, Shehbaz Sharif, to dissolve the National Accountability Bureau and hold its employees accountable.
“NAB’s employees looted and tortured people for years. It’s time they should be held accountable,” he said at a media talk in Islamabad.
Abbasi came down hard on the chairman of the bureau, accusing him of “being fully under control” of PTI Chairman and former PM Imran Khan. “He used to take instructions [from the previous government].”
Abbasi claimed that there was a minister in Imran Khan’s office who used to issue orders to the NAB chief regarding lodging fake cases, arresting people and defaming them. “This is your NAB chairman … who stayed quiet on Imran Khan’s corruption,” the PML-N leader added.
He also lamented that NAB couldn’t prove a single reference or inquiry against PML-N leaders in the last four years. “Why didn’t they investigate people who were involved in corruption worth billions [of rupees] and were sitting in the federal cabinet,” Abbasi demanded.
Now, he announced, was time to hold NAB accountable. “We are not taking revenge from anyone. We just want to expose the reality of NAB in front of the public. Accountability exists in the country but if you want to indulge in corruption, go to NAB,” Abbasi said.
He also revealed that the government would move courts for the installation of cameras inside NAB courts so that the “public knows who is actually involved in corruption”.
“We won’t arrest anyone. Weak people like the NAB chairman will be the first person to arrested Imran Khan’s people. But this is not our way,” Abbasi pointed out, adding that the PML-N had always maintained its honour and respect in politics.
Whatever happened in the last four years, he reiterated, would be kept in front of the public.
