–Senior politician arrested in Narowal Sports City project
–Iqbal says NSC project was 90pc complete but ‘PTI govt has turned it into ruins’
–PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif slams Iqbal’s arrest, terms it ‘proof of NAB-Niazi nexus’
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday arrested senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal from its Rawalpindi chapter’s office where he had appeared to record his statement in a case regarding alleged corruption in the Narowal Sports City (NSC) Project.
In a statement following the arrest, NAB said that the PML-N MNA will be produced before an accountability court on Tuesday for seeking his physical remand.
Iqbal is accused of using funds of the federal government and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for a sports city being established in Narowal — a multi-billion project.
The PML-N leader had said he had submitted documents related to his income and expenditures to NAB Rawalpindi, and that he had already replied to a questionnaire given to him by the bureau in connection with the same case.
Speaking to the media before heading to NAB, Iqbal said that when PML-N came into power in 2013, he, as planning minister, had taken up several projects that were incomplete and NSC was one of them. He said that the funds spent on the project were approved by the cabinet, parliament and the National Economic Council.
He explained that the amount of money spent on NSC had exceeded its original cost because when the project was taken up again, the plan was revised and the project was expanded.
On Sunday, he had said that before the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power, the NSC project was 90 percent complete, but the present government had turned it into ruins.
He said that the AstroTurf (artificial grass) was imported for the ground in the sports city. It was to be laid within six months.
PML-N SLAMS ARREST:
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif condemned Iqbal’s arrest and termed it as “proof of NAB-Niazi nexus”.
“The arrest of a man who strengthened Pak-China friendship and CPEC is condemnable and regrettable,” he said in a statement.
“The arrest of Ahsan Iqbal for completing an incomplete project, which should have earned him praise, is the worst example of political revenge.
“We will continue to unveil the government’s anti-CPEC, anti-Pakistan and anti-public policies.”
Following Iqbal’s arrest, party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb lashed out at the government and NAB and said that the party will “continue to speak like this”. She said that Iqbal’s “fault is that he is Nawaz Sharif’s companion, speaks the truth and loves the people of Pakistan”.
“Do what you want to do. Arrest someone else, threaten someone else. PML-N is Nawaz Sharif’s party. It does not bow, it doesn’t get scared and doesn’t sell [itself].”
“All those who are capable and truthful are in jail today,” she said. She demanded NAB to look into the Peshawar BRT project, which is lying in the doldrums.
“If anyone has misused authority, it is Imran Khan,” she declared.
“PML-N will not hand over this country to incompetent people. This country belongs to the 220 million people of the country.”
In response to a question, Aurangzeb said: “Cooperating with NAB means to stay quiet, to not speak the truth about this government […] Yes, Ahsan Iqbal did not cooperate, will not cooperate. PML-N will not cooperate.”
Ahsan Iqbal is a PML-N stalwart who serves as the party’s secretary general and previously held the post of minister of interior and minister for planning and development, under the premiership of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Iqbal has been associated with prestigious educational institutions such as Government College Lahore, University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore), University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University and Harvard University.
He has been elected as an MNA five times — in 1993, 1997, 2008, 2013 and 2018.
Iqbal has held other key government positions in the past as well, serving as deputy chairman Planning Commission, chairman Pakistan Engineering Board and chairman of the National Steering Committees on Information Technology and IQM and Productivity.
Iqbal has to his credit Pakistan’s first national IT policy which was formulated upon his initiative. He also taught management at the Mohammad Ali Jinnah University in Islamabad (2000-2007) and chairs a think-tank called Better Pakistan Foundation.
The PML-N leader also served as federal minister for education with an additional charge of minorities’ affairs for a short period before his party pulled out of the PPP-led coalition government in 2008.
