PML-N wants parliamentary body to probe accusations against NAB chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Shahid Khaqan Abbasi demanded on Friday that a parliamentary committee be set up to probe into allegations against NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.

Speaking at a press conference alongside PML-N leaders Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Mohsin Ranjha and Abbas Afridi, he said a parliamentary body be set up under  the rule 244(B) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007 to investigate “this issue of national importance.”

The PML-N leaders’ press conference came in the wake of a controversy surrounding a video clip aired by a private news channel showing a purported conversation of the NAB chairman with an unnamed woman.

“We have reservations about NAB from day one,” Abbasi said. “We want Parliament to look into accusations levelled against the NAB chairman, for which a committee should be constituted,” he added.

He quoted the bureau’s chairman as saying that he [Javed Iqbal] is under a lot of pressure. Recent incidents prove that this pressure is linked with the Prime Minister House, he opined.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his aides are involved in such matters, the PML-N leader alleged, adding the news channel, which aired the story involving the NAB chief, belonged to the prime minister’s friend and adviser who, he claimed, had given some of the funds spent on the PTI’s campaign for the 2018 general elections.

Earlier today, the NAB rejected the report about the NAB chief saying that all such reports are baseless, fabricated and contrary to the facts.

A NAB official said a group of blackmailer is behind such reports that are aimed at tarnishing reputation of the bureau and its chairman.