KARACHI: An accountability court on Monday adjourned hearing of a reference pertaining to illegal recruitment in Pakistan State Oil (PSO) against former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other accused.

Shahid Khaqan and other accused were present in the court for the case hearing. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the court that the witness could not appear in the hearing as he has contracted coronavirus.

The court ordered the witness and accused to ensure their presence in the next hearing of the case and adjourned the hearing until January 14.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi talking to media here said that the NAB is the main cause of the gas and power crises in the country. “We had leave surplus gas and the electricity,” Abbasi said.

“The ministers only have false claims when they appear on television screen and this falsehood and cover up results in losses to general public,” the PML-N leader said. “The case has been continued for last two-and-half years but it is yet to be understood, what is the case,” he said. “An injustice could not linger on further,” he said.

Abbasi said that the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wants to create differences among Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership and that the nation will get a sigh of relief from February 2021 due to the efforts of opposition parties.

County’s situation cannot be improved until the elimination of deadly coronavirus, he added.

He said the PDM movement has been continued and the long march will provide relief to the people. “We have no dispute with the establishment, we only want that the country should be run according to the constitution,” Shahid Khaqan said.

The NAB has paralyzed the system of governance and have nothing positive in its work, the former prime minister said. “The NAB is major evil and the most corrupt institution of Pakistan,” he said. “The Supreme Court has termed the NAB an institution of political engineering,” Abbasi said. NNI