Officer manhandles Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during NAB probe?

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was allegedly manhandled by an officer of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during his physical remand. 

According to NAB sources, during the question and answer hour session with Abbasi, a member of the investigation team first shouted at the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leader and later reportedly manhandled him, The News Investigation Cell has learnt. 

Sources said the incident took place at NAB Rawalpindi office located at Melody, Islamabad.

The sources further claim that NAB officer who was said to have done this was hired as a petroleum expert and was part of the investigation team trying to gather evidence against the former prime minister in Liquefied Natural Gas scandal.

Sources added that at time of the incident the said officer got furious with the answers given by Abbasi and reportedly got physical with him and even threw a glass at him. 

Sources claimed that the other officers including M Zubair, the investigation officer of the case-controlled the situation. Another source when contacted shared that an occurrence report was also prepared by the officer and submitted before Rawalpindi NAB Director General Irfan Naeem Mangi.

The NAB official requesting anonymity claimed that in the said submitted report it was mentioned that instead of the officer it was former prime minister who “resisted”. 

If true, this is not the first time when a former prime minister of the country was manhandled. Previously, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Nawaz Sharif of PML-N were also reportedly manhandled during the regimes of General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervaiz Musharraf.

When this correspondent approached NAB spokesman for his version, he vehemently denied the story and attacked Geo News. NAB spokesman declared the story as concocted, baseless and false which is in line with the malicious campaign of Geo TV to tarnish the image of NAB by airing absolutely wrong and fabricated news.

The spokesman further claimed that NAB is a professional organisation, which conducts inquiries and investigations professionally ensuring self-respect of every accused. He said, after the expiry of remand, we present the accused in the Accountability Court Islamabad where he has not raised any question of NAB inquiry. 

Originally published in The News