The government came under fire as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Musa Khan, a close associate of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday.

NAB arrested Musa and produced him before an accountability court in Peshawar. The court remanded him into NAB custody for six days.

His son Tariq, the personal secretary of Fazlur Rehman, said his father was arrested when he was travelling from Dera Ismail Khan to Peshawar to appear in the ongoing inquiry over assets beyond means. 

The bureau, blamed by the opposition parties for being used as a tool for political persecution, also summoned Fazl on October 1 in connection with assets beyond means.

The move comes days after an all-party conference (APC) of the opposition announced the formation of a new alliance to oust the government and Fazl remained the key leader in the moot. 

 ‘First attack’ 

Coming down hard on the government, Fazl called Musa’s arrest the ‘first attack’ on him by the government. However, he said he never bow to such tactics.

Another leader of JUI-F called it ‘political revenge’ saying people affiliated with the opposition were being nabbed. 

Senator Attaur Rehman also slammed the government for the arrest of Musa.  He said he wanted to make the rulers and the ruling allies that such steps can’t shatter opposition’s resolve to continue with the fight for their rights.