NAB arrests PML-N’s Khawaja Asif in assets probe

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Khawaja Asif on Tuesday was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in an assets-beyond-means investigation, in what party Vice President Maryam Nawaz termed a “kidnapping”.

Party spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb told Geo News that the former foreign minister was arrested near PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal’s house while the party leadership gathered to debate whether the PML-N would take part in the Senate elections. Asif left the meeting and was moments later arrested near the residence. He has been taken to the NAB Rawalpindi office, sources said.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said Asif would be presented before an accountability court today (Wednesday) for remand. In a press conference following the arrest, Maryam Nawaz confirmed that Khawaja Asif was taken into NAB custody near Iqbal’s house. She also alleged that Asif confided in her that he was given warnings to ditch Nawaz Sharif or “face the consequences” — and that he chose the latter. She did not name who gave Asif the choice.

Minutes after news broke, Geo News anchor Hamid Mir on his show Capital Talk said the former foreign minister knew he would be arrested and had even made preparations beforehand for what he considered an “eventuality”. “He had prepared a bag as well and would say that the NAB would arrest him soon,” said Mir.

When prompted by the anchor to comment whether Asif’s arrest was a “reactionary move” to Maryam Nawaz’s speech in Larkana on Sunday, Maryam’s spokesman Muhammad Zubair said: “Of course. When the popularity and impact [of the PDM] is on the rise, we knew that they would react in some way. And today, we have seen that reaction.”