PM Shehbaz says ‘Nawaz Sharif might return in days or weeks’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif might return to the country in a few days or weeks.

While talking to a private news channel, PM Shehbaz Sharif said that the party would get stronger as party Nawaz Sharif would return soon following his doctors’ permission.

Prime Minister Shehbaz rubbished the notions of any differences within the party and explained that PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz had earned the office through her tireless struggle even when Nawaz Sharif was in jail.

She said the conventions being addressed by Maryam Nawaz were giving new energy to the party besides building a narrative.

IMF agreement

PM Sharif said that the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would reach within a few days as the government had accepted even the “toughest” conditions put by the global financial institution.

The prime minister said joint efforts were being made by both his economic team as well as other national institutions to make this process a success.

He said while assuming the government, he never knew that his predecessor Imran Khan had agreed on such conditions with the IMF which he later backed out to hurt undermine Pakistan in the world as well as among global institutions.

“This is why the IMF is making us accept those conditionalities and seeking their implementation. No doubt, these conditions have burdened the common man,” he commented.

He said realising the common man’s suffering, the government had decided to provide relief through Benazir Incom Support Program. However, he said the imported inflation caused by the Ukraine war also hit the country in form of increased fertiliser and oil prices.

Besides the floods also hit the national economy, ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s “shameful” lies about regime change by the US also created uncertainty.

The prime minister told the interviewer that friendly countries like China were supporting Pakistan despite the fact that Imran Khan had hurt their brotherly ties.

Recounting the baseless allegations leveled by the PTI leadership against him through local television channels as well UK’s Daily Mail, the prime minister said the latter apologised and the UK’s National Crime Agency also exonerated him from the charges hurled by that time government.

Imran Khan’s arrest

Asked about the ongoing police attempts to arrest Imran Khan, the prime minister said he had been avoiding the arrest on the excuse of illness or injuries.

He said despite using foul language against the national institutions, Khan was given relief every time.

He said during the PTI government, the PML-N leadership including himself, Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Khawaja Asif and Rana Sanaullah, were implicated in false cases and made subject to inhumane treatment in the jails.

Asked about the registration of around 80 cases against Imran Khan, the prime minister said it was not done by him rather the cases were registered by the citizens and the law would take its course.

“He is wanted by courts, not me. The arrest warrants were issued by the courts, not me or the administration. Now what will happen if the administration does not abide by the court order,” he questioned.

Elections

To a question about the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on elections, the prime minister said no political party could escape the polls. Being the party president, he had already asked the party men to submit their applications for the party tickets to contest elections for which he was also interviewing the candidates.

However, he said it was the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the elections.

Substantiating his point on the government’s seriousness for elections, the prime minister said a fresh census was being held to address the reservations of some political parties, particularly in Sindh, spending billions of rupees.

Toshakhana gifts

Coming to publicizing Toshakhana’s record, he said retaining gifts by paying a specified amount was a legal process. However, Imran Khan got a gift of a precious watch from a brotherly country and sold it out in Dubai whereas he committed a criminal act of getting a fake receipt from a local merchant.

He said the record of Toshakhana was made public as per the cabinet decision as well as the decision of the Lahore High Court.

Arshad Sharif murder case

Asked about any progress in the probe into the murder of Arshad Sharif, he told the interviewer that had talked to twice to the Kenyan president with the latest one some three weeks ago and asked him to provide their investigation report also sought by the Supreme Court.

Calling it a brutal murder, the prime minister said the government was making all-out efforts and would not sit idle until the family got justice.

To another question, the prime minister endorsed the anchorperson’s viewpoint that he was offered the premiership before the 2018 polls but he refused to accept the offer as he could not backstab his brother who made Pakistan’s defense impregnable by carrying out nuclear explosions and also brought in an investment of around $30-35 billion through CPEC.