NAB issued notice after smart lockdown criticism on govt: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday maintained that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had summoned him as a reaction to his earlier speech where he had censured the incumbent government for failed strategies regarding coronavirus in the country.

"I have been a guest of NAB' for 77 days, [but] today for the first time the anti-corruption watchdog asked for my tax details," he said while speaking to the media outside NAB Rawalpindi.

The PML-N leader added, "If you stay at home, NAB does not say anything, however, if you give [two] speeches or criticise the government, the bureau takes immediate notice."

Maintaining that the accountability should be according to the rule of law and not to suppress anyone's political views, the former prime minister said, "I don't know who Shahzad Akbar is. Maybe Imran Khan has created a new institution [of his own]."

NAB had summoned the former prime minister and his son in the LNG scam today. The Bureau has already filed a supplementary reference in an accountability court on misuse of authority against them.

Also read: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi slams ‘smart lockdown’, says government has no strategy to deal with coronavirus

'Govt has no strategy to deal with coronavirus'

Abbasi while addressing the floor of the Lower House on Wednesday had hit out at the government and its “smart lockdown”, saying the Centre had no concrete plan to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

“The prime minister had said he would not impose a lockdown in the country because the poor and daily wagers would suffer as a result of it. He then said that the lockdown had been enforced by the elite. Who are these elite,” Abbasi asked, addressing the floor of the House.

Hitting out at a minister he did not name, Abbasi had said, “Today a fourth minister from the government came and addressed the House, but did not speak about their strategy at all. If this House is to run, the opposition needs to speak first and the government shall answer then. All we need to know is what the government has planned when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.”

The former prime minister had added that government websites were full of pictures of ministers but there was nothing about how they planned to deal with the pandemic.