KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued directives for the attorney general of Pakistan to approach the Lahore High Court against Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for his “fake affidavit” that had promised return of former minister Nawaz Sharif after certain time but both had failed to meet their commitment, disclosed a key member of the federal cabinet.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also questioned the role of judiciary, saying the government was left with no option but to move the court itself to ensure the return of Pakistan Muslim League’s (PML-N) supreme leader.

“The prime minister has issued directives to the attorney general of Pakistan in this regard,” he said in reply a question during an interaction with the media about the measures being taken for bringing Nawaz Sharif back while making it clear that this time the government would go after Shehbaz Sharif to achieve its target.

Minister says govt left with no option but to seek court’s help to ensure Nawaz’s return

“It was Shehbaz Sharif who had filed the affidavit promising that Nawaz Sharif would return after certain time. But he failed to fulfil his promise. So I think the high court should itself have taken the notice of this violation. The court should have asked him [Shehbaz] why shouldn’t we send you to jail for this fake affidavit? Since the court has not taken it up, the government has asked the attorney general to get himself prepared on these lines and approach the court of law for justice,” he added.

The information minister was talking to reporters during his to the residence of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Alamgir Khan in Gulshan-i-Iqbal to offer condolence over the demise of his father Dilawar Khan who was killed in a blast in the Sherhshah area earlier this month along with over a dozen other people.

“Even in minor crime of a theft, police here round up the whole family of the suspect. But in his [Nawaz Sharif] case it’s quite strange that we don’t see any move even in line with the defined laws. So the government has decided to take it up itself,” he said.

Finance bill

Sounding confident of easy sailing in both house of parliament despite strong protest from the opposition parties, Mr Chaudhry was convinced that the controversial Supplementary Finance Bill 2021 would be passed by January 20 and ruled out any reservations expressed by PTI allies as claimed by the PML-Q and Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P).

He claimed that two ministers each from the MQM-P and PML-Q had raised no objections when the issue was taken up at a meeting and all the four voted for its approval. “The bill has already been tabled in the National Assembly and I hope it would be approved by January 15 or 20,” he said.

The information minister said no one within the government was against the proposed bill as it was actually a step towards economic reforms and stability.

He said the autonomy of the State Bank doesn’t mean surrendering the country’s economic sovereignty as dubbed by the opposition parties, terming the government move a part of its plan to strengthen the country’s institutions.

“The State Bank would become stronger and it would not be like the past when the deputy governor was busy doing money laundering for former finance minister Ishaq Dar,” he said.

“It’s a part of PTI manifesto that it would strengthen the institutions. For the last three years the government has never availed any loan from the State Bank. Otherwise, it’s always very easy to avail this facility and ask the State Bank to fill this gap through printing new currency notes. Things are needed to be seen with just and fairness.”

The minister referred to data from 1947 to 2008 when the country was under debt of six trillion rupees, but it soared to Rs27 trillion by 2018 and criticised the previous two governments for misappropriating national exchequer at the cost of common man’s hardships.

About the growing inflation and current economic crisis, he said it was an international trend where the prices almost of every commodity were going up and being importer of such products Pakistan was witnessing the current situation. At the same time, he was hopeful that with financial arrangements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economy would start seeing positive changes.

“It [IMF deal] would help in addressing our immediate worries. This year is a year of stability and things have already started showing positive signals. We are going to witness bumper crop this year and there’s an industrial and agricultural revival which would lead to five per cent economic growth.

“Similarly, some 100 companies of Pakistan have this year posted net profit of Rs929 billion. The international market has also showed some stability. So we are very much hopeful about the days ahead,” the minister said.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022