Bringing back Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan is necessary: Shibli Faraz

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz has said that it is necessary to bring back former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan and the government will ask the Foreign Office (FO) to take steps for his return, ARY News reported on Friday.

Shibli Faraz, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, said that Nawaz Sharif had departed to London for six months by presenting an excuse for his precarious health conditions, however, he neither undergoes any medical test nor sends his health reports sought by the Punjab government.

He criticised that Nawaz Sharif is running politics in Pakistan from London by contacting everyone including Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman except Shehbaz Sharif. The government will bring back Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan by adopting legal procedures, he announced.

The federal government will ask the foreign ministry to take steps for bringing back Nawaz Sharif to the country, said Faraz.

Read: Money laundering, assets reference: Court summons Shehbaz, others on Aug 27

The federal minister said that Maryam Nawaz was not a political leader and she was not summoned by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for handing over any award but to question her over corruption charges. It was the history of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz for attacking courts and the NAB office in Lahore had been attacked during the appearance of Maryam Nawaz.

Faraz blamed past rulers for becoming billionaires through corruption. He said that former finance minister Ishaq Dar had artificially maintained the exchange rate of the country by spending $6 billion from the national treasury.

While detailing the government’s efforts for enacting laws related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Shibli Faraz said that they are trying to pull out Pakistan from the grey list. The opposition parties were blackmailing the federal government despite a severe crisis in the country.

He said that the opposition leadership is fully aware of the severe consequences if Pakistan goes into the blacklist but they tried to get NRO in the guise of FATF bill.

The FATF will decide over pulling out Pakistan from its grey list in September.

The minister clarified that Prime Minister Imran Khan could not be politically blackmailed by the opposition. He asked opposition parties to vote on FATF bill for the sake of the country.