Daily Times

The Ministry of Interior on Tuesday approved a request by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to declare their Lahore office a ‘red zone’ and for security to be provided to the bureau on the day of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s hearing.

Maryam has been summoned by NAB on March 26 in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, as well as the purchase of land in Raiwind.

Punjab government’s sub-cabinet committee on law and order has also approved the declaration of the NAB office as a red zone on the occasion of Maryam’s appearance. Reports said approval has been granted for Punjab Rangers and police personnel to be deployed within the NAB office and surrounding areas on March 25 and 26.

NAB had cited fears of a possible attack on its building the day the PML-N leader is expected to appear.

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Fazlur Rehman, in a gesture of support, had said on Sunday that during Maryam’s hearing at NAB, the opposition alliance will show up in an act of solidarity with the PML-N leader. He had said that when she appeared before NAB on Friday, all of the PDM’s workers and leaders would be right there with her. He went on to say that the workers will number “not thousands, but hundreds of thousands”. In August last year, when Maryam had been summoned by the anti-corruption watchdog to respond in a case of alleged illegal transfer of government land, violent clashes between PML-N workers and police had took place outside the NAB office.