PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday repeated calls for the dissolution of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) while saying that the country cannot progress with the national-graft buster operational.

“Now, the government has to decide whether it wants to dissolve the NAB or keep it functional…whether to run the government or NAB. We have to take that decision,” he told reporters outside the accountability court in Karachi.

He claimed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would be the biggest beneficiary of such a decision.

The PML-N leader reiterated that the incumbent government has not accused anyone but only put facts before the public. “Whoever looted the country should be held accountable.”

Government ministers say they cannot work in the presence of NAB, Abbasi added.

Fuel subsidy

Abbasi, the former premier, stressed the need for taking “difficult decisions” in order to strengthen the economy while speaking about the previous government decisions pertaining to oil relief.

“No country in the world can sell set petrol at a cost that is lower than the purchase price. This is costing Pakistan Rs200 billion a month.”

Former premier Imran Khan had announced a Rs10 reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel at the end of February, mere days before the tabling of the no-confidence motion against him that resulted in his ouster.

‘Foreign conspiracy’

Moreover, the PML-N leader lamented that many people of the educated class of the country believed in former prime minister Imran Khan’s foreign conspiracy claims.

To a query over the National Security Committee meeting on the purported threat letter, he said it would soon be called as the cabinet has been formed.

Abbasi added that the Election Commission has sought seven months to conduct the general elections and the country cannot afford an interim set-up for such a long period amid the prevailing economic situation.