A Pakistani court on Tuesday granted bail to former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after months in detention on graft charges.Abbasi, who served as the prime minister from August 2017 to May 2018, was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in July for allegedly violating rules and causing a loss to the national exchequer in the Liquified Natural Gas case.The court also heard separate bail application of former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and also granted him bail.

The NAB is probing alleged corruption in the award of contract to import LNG from Qatar by Abbasi when he was minister for petroleum and natural resources in the Cabinet of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Accepting their pleas, the IHC Bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez ordered that they should be released on submission of surety bonds of Rs 10 million each.

Abbasi was arrested in July while Iqbal was arrested in December last year.The court criticised the NAB during the hearing by saying that it was arresting people on flimsy grounds.