Abbasi's arrest the worst revenge against PML-N, says Shehbaz.

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said the incumbent government's failure and incompetence is being associated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), a private TV channel reported.

Addressing a press conference flanked by party leaders Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal and Marriyum Aurangzeb following the arrest of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said an attack was launched at his party through collusion with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi arrested from Thokar Niaz Baig in a graceless manner. "If there is accountability, where is it? This is the worst revenge against the PML-N in the garb of accountability," he said.

"Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was arrested in a crude manner; when he asked for [arrest] warrants, the NAB officials just stared at each others' faces," Shehbaz claimed. "NAB DG came himself and showed a WhatsApp message. When Khaqan asked for a warrant signed by the NAB chairman, then they got a photocopy," he revealed. "With measures such as these, Prime Minister Imran Niazi is aiming to divert the public's attention away from the real issues," he said, and added that he has killed the country's economy in the past 11 months. "Imran is trying to hide the destroyed economy with these arrests," the former chief minister said.

Shehbaz Sharif narrated as to how Abbasi had a pivotal role in ending the gas load shedding and how the consequent resumption of gas and power led to improvements in businesses and employment. "Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his team, too, were under pressure ... but they never hiked up the prices because he knew and sympathised with the country's poor," he said. "The International Monetary Fund's dictation was not accepted during Nawaz Sharif's tenure," he said, adding, "What is Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's crime? He's a loyal ally of Nawaz Sharif.

The opposition leader lamented rupee devaluation that led to an increase in prices of commodities, and accused the prime minister of 'defaming the country all over the world'. "I want to tell the NAB chairman that this is not the first time PML-N is going through this. Everyone knows what happened to us during the Musharraf era," he said. "We were forced into exile, Musharraf turned our house into an old people's house. But we are still alive, we will remain...