Islamabad: Accusing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of targeting Opposition leaders, a ruling PML-Q (Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid) member has asked Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to release top Opposition party leaders including Asif Ali Zardari and Javed Hashmi to facilitate "political reconciliation".

PML-Q Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain, who is close to Musharraf, urged the President to release, Zardari, the husband of self exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who has been imprisoned for the past eight years on charges of corruption.

He also asked for the release of Javed Hashmi, a close associate of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was handed out a 23-year sentence last year for "high treason".

Besides the two, he also called for the release of Gilani, an associate of Bhutto who was sentenced for 10 years imprisonment with fine of Rs 100 million for appointing some of his associates when he held the post of Speaker of the National Assembly.

Terming the three as "political prisoners", Hussain said in the Senate, "Let us start the process of grand political reconciliation for the release of all political prisoners particularly Zardari, Hashmi and Gilani".

Hussain, a former Information Minister, under Sharif Government attacked the NAB (National Accountability Bureau), accusing it of exclusively targeting Opposition leaders during its five-year-old drive against corruption.

NAB should "catch thieves of both the Opposition and the Government" as the country needs an institution for "across the board" accountability, he said.