Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said the government will use all legal options to bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back from the United Kingdom. 

Talking to the media on Friday, Shibli said that Nawaz Sharif ruled the country as prime minister thrice. If he has not done anything wrong, he asked, why is he on the run? He said the government is asking Nawaz to come back on moral grounds and have all charges against him cleared. He said that government people did not hold anything personal against Nawaz. He said that Nawaz was supposed to return home after his medical check-up in the United Kingdom, but he did not keep his word. 

Shibli said that Ishaq Dar, former finance minister and a close aide of Nawaz Sharif, maintained the exchange rate artificially and his import mechanism caused Pakistan losses in two ways. He said that $6 billion were wasted by the last government to maintain the exchange rate artificially. He said the government would write a letter to the British government for Nawaz Sharif’s repatriation. He said the government would not mind if the opposition calls its pro-Pakistan policies blackmailing. 

The information minister said this is high time for Nawaz Sharif and his cronies to return to Pakistanis their looted money and seek forgiveness from God. He said the PML-N made the Kashmir Day controversial. He said the opposition would sacrifice the national interest over its own interest. He said the opposition must come up with its own strategy keeping in view the national interest. He said that people would suffer the most if the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklists Pakistan. 

Shibli, who is also a senator, said that Nawaz Sharif was now making his outing pictures public – sometimes going for a coffee and sometimes walk. He said that Maryam Nawaz is not a political leader and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had summoned her for questioning, not to give her an award. In reaction, he said, the PML-N pelted the officials with stones. He said the PML-N without power was like a fish without water. He said that opposition parties wanted to secure NRO against their support to FATF legislation. He said the opposition wanted 34 of the 37 provisions in the NAB law changed. He said the opposition wanted absolute freedom from accountability and dissolution of the NAB. 

Shibli said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had never been blackmailed and he would never be. He said that opposition parties wanted people to die in large numbers from coronavirus so that the government becomes financially weak and crumbles. He said that poor people have always been the focus of Imran Khan’s policy.