ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday arrested prominent opposition leader and former defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the bureau confirmed to Pakistani media.
A NAB official told the Dawn newspaper that Asif, who is a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), was arrested in an “assets beyond known sources of income case” and the anti-corruption body had been investigating the matter for months.
“Khawaja Asif continuously failed to cooperate during the inquiry,” the NAB spokesperson said.
PML-N chief and former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif reacted to the arrest in a tweet:
“The arrest of Khawaja Asif is a highly reprehensible incident ... The days of blind political revenge are numbered.”
Asif is a sitting member of parliament and a key leader of the PMLN. His arrest adds to a long list of politicians from opposition parties who have been detaian by NAB since Prime Minister Imran Khan took office in August 2018. The federal government denies victimising opposition politics.
خواجہ آصف کی گرفتاری سلیکٹرز اور سلیکٹڈ کے گٹھ جوڑ کا انتہائی قابل مذمت واقعہ ہے۔ ایسی بھونڈی حرکتوں سے حکومتی بوکھلاہٹ کا اندازہ لگایا جاسکتا ہے لیکن ان حرکتوں سے یہ اپنے انجام کو مزید قریب لا رہے ہیں۔ اندھے سیاسی انتقام کے دن گنے جا چکے ہیں۔
— Nawaz Sharif (@NawazSharifMNS) December 29, 2020
Asif served as defense and foreign minister I n the government of former PM Nawaz Sharif, who was himself removed from office in 2017 over corruption allegations. Sharif was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018.
