Opposition leader Shehbaz arrested

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif was arrested yesterday for graft, officials said, the latest corruption allegation against the Sharif political dynasty that was ousted from power by former cricketer Imran Khan in elections this summer.The arrest, by agents of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Lahore, involved a case of alleged corruption in a low-cost housing scheme, called Aashyana (Shelter), when Shehbaz Sharif was chief minister of Punjab province.“NAB Lahore has arrested former chief minister of Punjab Shehbaz Sharif in Aashyana company case. The NAB will produce the former chief minister of Punjab in the honourable accountability court tomorrow,” a statement from the agency said.Earlier in the day, Shehbaz appeared before the NAB authorities to record his statement in the case, but he was detained after he failed to answer the questions, local media reported.The accountability watchdog had alleged that Shahbaz had misused his authority during his tenure as Punjab chief minister.The NAB has already arrested several close aides of Shehbaz in connection with the corruption scandal.Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry welcomed the arrest and offered the agency any help it needed.“This step today is a big step,” he told reporters.New Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party campaigned on an anti-corruption platform.Marriyum Aurangzeb, spokeswoman of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), said the arrest was a move to “influence” upcoming by-elections that are crucial for Khan’s coalition government.“This is nothing but political victimisation,” she told reporters in Islamabad.“The government is afraid that the PML-N isn’t broken despite all the cheap tactics,” Aurangzeb said, adding: “It is an attempt to influence the by-election.”By-elections to fill 11 parliamentary seats and 19 provincial assembly seats are scheduled for October 14.Those seats are empty because of court-ordered delays and the ability of top candidates to run in several constituencies simultaneously, but only represent one.The by-elections could affect the slim majority Khan’s coalition government holds in parliament, though many of the constituencies are considered strongholds of the PTI.The contests are considered to be closer in the provincial assemblies and could result in the PML-N winning back control of Punjab.An anti-corruption court in July sentenced Nawaz Sharif in absentia to 10 years over properties his family allegedly owned in Britain, following revelations in the Panama Papers.He was released from prison last month after a court suspended his sentence pending an appeal.Nawaz – who was ousted from office last year by the Supreme Court following a graft investigation – was arrested on his return to Pakistan in July from London to campaign in elections, which he was barred from contesting.He claims that he is being targeted by the country’s powerful security establishment.The PML-N party lost the election on July 25 to the rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by former cricket hero Imran Khan.Nawaz claims he is being targeted by the country’s powerful security establishment, and his brother Shehbaz, who led the PML-N into the July 25 election, has echoed the allegations.