Abbasi urges speaker to issue production orders of detained MNAs indiscriminately

Speaker office has failed in ensuring attendance of all the parliamentarians, Abbasi said.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Former Prime Minister (PM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday has urged National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar to make sure participation of every under-custody parliamentarian in the sessions.

In an open letter to the speaker, the ex-petroleum minister said that he has always stressed on timely issuance of production orders of the arrested MNAs however, nothing has been done in this regard so far.

Speaker office has failed in ensuring attendance of all the parliamentarians in the sessions, the letter stated.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi further demanded to indiscriminately issue production orders of all the detained members so that they can also attend the assembly meetings.  

On July 18, 2019, the anti-corruption watchdog had arrested Shahid Khaqan Abbasi near Thokar Niaz Baig toll plaza in connection with an ongoing investigation into the ‘illegal’ award of the LNG contract with Qatar.

The apex court on September 10, 2018 directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against Abbasi and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract.

In June 2018, the NAB approved inquiry against former premier Nawaz Sharif and Abbasi. As the minister for petroleum and natural resources, he has been accused of granting contract on LNG Terminal to ETPL, Tri-partial agreement, LSA with EETPL and LNG import from Qatar etc.

It was also observed that this contract had allegedly caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

In January, the NAB interrogated former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the same case.

According to NAB documents, the contract for the LNG import and distribution was awarded to the Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013 in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.