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Former Pakistani PM Abbasi arrested

Former Pakistani PM Abbasi arrested

By REUTERS

FILE: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi speaks with a Reuters correspondent during an interview at his office in Islamabad, Pakistan September 11, 2017. Photo: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's anti-corruption agency arrested a former prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Thursday, a spokesman for the agency, the National Accountability Board (NAB), said. He gave no details on the grounds for the arrest but a copy of the arrest warrant shared by Abbasi's PML-N party, indicated that he was accused of 'corruption and corrupt practices'. Abbasi, who served for less than a year following the resignation of former premier Nawaz Sharif in 2017, was arrested while on his way to a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore. 'They said they were from the NAB and took away Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with them,' Ahsan Iqbal, a senior PML-N parliamentarian told a television station. Last year, the NAB ordered an inquiry into both Abbasi and Sharif over a liquefied natural gas terminal project. Sharif is serving a seven-year sentence after being convicted in a separate corruption case.