NAB should stay the way it is: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on Friday said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should remain as it is.

“For what crime has Shahbaz been imprisoned? Someone should ask how accountability is being done. The NAB should remain the way it is right now, if we are suffering, then others should suffer too,” Nawaz said while talking informally to journalists.

Nawaz Sharif appeared before the accountability court in corruption references against him filed by the NAB. Judge Arshad Malik conducted the hearing. Nawaz said the NAB should probe Imran Khan’s helicopter use and his family’s assets. “Record of our family’s source of income from 1937 is available,” he said. The former premier said dollar wasn't even raised by 10 paisas without permission during his term.

Nawaz Sharif said there was a balance between the dollar and rupee during his tenure. He said the world called Pakistan’s economy strong and balanced from 2013 to 2017. Pointing towards the PTI government, the ex-premier said, “If they say we used artificial means to stabilise the dollar, then they can do it too.”

“What is the artificial way to maintain the price of dollar?” he further questioned. “Were there ever such long queues at CNG stations?” he asked. The PML-N supremo added, “We are asked time and again why we went out of the country after 1999. Pervez Musharraf exiled us, we did not go on our own,” he said.

Nawaz said Shahbaz contested the election for the first time from Karachi and only lost by 500 votes to Faisal Vawda and “we all know how he won”. During the hearing, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris presented his arguments before the court. The accountability court adjourned the hearing of Al-Azizia reference till Monday.