NAB arrests Chaudhry Nisar’s rival candidate

Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog has arrested PML-N leader Raja Qamar-ul-Islam over his alleged involvement in Punjab’s Saaf Pani Company scam.

Qamar-ul-Islam, a PML-N candidate and Chaudhry Nisar’s opponent in NA-59 (Rawalpinidi), was one of the board members of the Saaf Pani company.

Islam is accused of awarding contracts of 84 water treatment plants at a higher price, a NAB statement said. 

The accused, it said, had intentionally raised the cost of plants in the bidding documents. 

The plants were set up in Dunyapur tehsil which was not part of the original contract, according to the NAB. 

The company’s Chief Operating Officer Waseem Ajmal has also been taken into custody by the National Accountability Bureau  (NAB) on Monday.

Reacting to the arrests, former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said that the move would badly affect Chaudhry Nisar Ali’s election campaign.

“This will create an impression as if Qamar ul Islam has been arrested to facilitate Chaudhry Nisar Ali in the coming elections,” Sanaullah opined, adding that Qamar ul Islam is an honest man and his arrest shows NAB’s partiality.

Separately, Chaudhry Nisar also condemned Islam’s arrest, saying it would negatively affect the electoral process.