Speaker orders NAB to ensure Shehbaz's presence for NA session

The PML-N had earlier called for agitation over the 'sudden arrest' of the opposition leader

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Wednesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce incarcerated Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif in every session of the lower house from October 17.

The production orders were issued after the Speaker announced the second session of the National Assembly to take place on the aforementioned date.

“In the exercise of the powers conferred by rule 108 Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, the Speaker has been pleased to summon Shehbaz Sharif, leader of the opposition to attend the said session in the Parliament House,” the letter addressed to the NAB read.



Earlier, on October 7, an accountability court remanded Shehbaz in the NAB custody for 10 days to probe a housing scam amid angry protest by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers outside the court premises.

The decision to summon the National Assembly session comes following the PML-N's deadline to summon a session of the lower house as well as of Punjab Assembly.



The party, at a Central Executive Committee meeting chaired by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had earlier threatened agitation over the arrest.

Moreover, on October 8, a delegation of opposition leaders requested the NA Speaker to summon the session. In the Punjab, several MPAs reached Provincial Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi to summon a session “under Article 54(3), read with Article 127 of the Constitution”.

On October 5, the country’s top accountability watchdog arrested the PML-N president over his alleged involvement in a multi-billion rupees housing scam known as the Ashiana-e-Iqbal project.

Shehbaz was arrested by NAB inside its Lahore office where he was summoned to record his statement before a combined investigations team in connection with the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.