Pakistan’s former foreign minister Khawaja Asif was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly having assets beyond means of his income. He was arrested by the officials of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) while he was coming out of a party meeting in Islamabad, according to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb.
The arrest was executed in the “assets beyond known sources of income case”, NAB officials said in a statement. The bureau further said that Asif held a Dubai iqama (work permit) from 2004 to 2008, and earned a total of ₹ 136 million for his services as a consultant legal adviser.
The former minister was told to cooperate and submit details of the salary he received and other important information. "Khawaja Asif continuously failed to cooperate during the inquiry," according to the NAB.
"The days of blind vengeance (by the government) are numbered", former Pakistan prime minister and PLM-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said while condemning the arrest.
Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz also condemned the arrest and alleged that Asif was being pressured to oppose his father and was arrested on refusing to do so.
Khawaja Asif now joins the long list of other PML-N leaders who are facing cases of corruption including party president Shehbaz Sharif, senior members Hamza Shehbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Javed Latif, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Saad Rafique, among others.
An alliance of 11 opposition parties is organising protest rallies across the length and breadth of the country, demanding Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign.