LAHORE: Terming former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a “traitor” owing to his friendship with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, Provincial Prisons Minister Fayaz-ul-Hassan Chohan has claimed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will make all out efforts to bring the self-exiled PML-N supremo back to the country in handcuffs.

“It is being claimed both by the PML-N and the media for the last 20 days that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is desperate to come back to the country, but actually the United Kingdome is asking him (Nawaz) to leave the country upon his expiry visa,” claimed the minister while addressing a mass public campaign at his constituency on Thursday.

“Nawaz Sharif will be brought back to Pakistan in handcuffs because he is a traitor due to his friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who admitted on record that he took part in the separation of Bangladesh,” he said, adding that it was the PML-N that had left Pakistan on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

He alleged that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have complete record of the alleged money laundering of Rs26 billion of PML-N Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz through their sugar mills and their cases have been “proven true” before courts.

The minister claimed that both father and son will be disqualified by courts as there is no future of “Modi’s friends”. “Those who think that I and Sheikh Rasheed (Interior Minister) are not on same page will be embarrassed in the upcoming local government’s polls of Rawalpindi,” he added.

Terming unexpected defeat of the ruling PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s LG polls as a result of party’s internal disunity, the minister asserted that it would not reoccur in Rawalpindi’s elections as the government would complete its homework, including consultation with Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, prior to fielding its candidate. “We will clean sweep the Pindi election,” he vowed.

He added that he has setup a permanent secretariat in his constituency where people can lodge their complaints and seek legal remedies, and no one will be returned disheartened.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021