Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said that the government has instructed the attorney general to ask the Lahore High Court to either bring back former prime minister Nawaz Sharif or take action against Shehbaz Sharif for submitting in court a ‘fake’ undertaking ensuring the return of his brother to the country.

“Principally, the high court should have taken the suo motu notice on Nawaz’s return and summon Shehbaz Sharif and ask the latter about the affidavit. Your [Shehbaz] brother is not coming back so should we send you jail on the basis of a fake affidavit,” Fawad said while responding to a question during a press conference in Karachi.

Former premier Nawaz had left the country in November 2019 after his seven-year sentence for corruption was suspended by the Islamabad High Court for eight weeks in the Al Azizia case so he could seek medical treatment abroad. He never returned and was declared a “proclaimed offender” by multiple courts and “absconder” by the government.

The country’s politics has been abuzz with Nawaz’s return for the last couple of weeks. It started after PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq hinted at the party leader’s return in his speech at a rally in December last year, prompting ministers and the prime minister to make prophecies.

Fawad, who was sitting next to party leaders including Alamgir Khan, said that if the high court would not pursue the case then the government would become a party in the case.

“Yes,” he said on a query related to the government's decision to move court on the matter. “We have asked the attorney general to raise the issue in the court and request the high court to either bring back Nawaz Sharif or take action against Shehbaz Sharif for submitting in court a fake undertaking ensuring the return of his brother to the country.”

Proposed finance bill

Fawad also answered a question related to the autonomy of the State Bank of Pakistan under the Finance Supplementary Bill 2021 – also known as the mini-budget – and the SBP (Amendment) Bill 2021.

“The SBP is not going to be mortgaged. The SBP’s board of governors will be appointed by the government, he said. The information minister further dispelled the impression that allies were having reservations to the legislation, saying that none of the allies – including PML-Q and MQM – had raised any issue related to it during the party meeting.

“We need strong and independent institutions. The SBP’s independence is in the interest of Pakistan and its economy,” he said, “All parties are with us on this.”

He added that the finance bill had been tabled in the National Assembly and was expected to be passed by January 15-20. The country would be able to have the IMF programme with the passage of the bill, he said, adding that other streams of funds would also be available with the coming of $1 billion worth of IMF funds.

Fawad said: “After the IMF programme signing our immediate worries would end and our urgent problems would be resolved.”

At the start of the presser, he said that 100 big companies have shown Rs929 billion worth of profit last year in the country and according to his understanding media houses witnessed an increase of 33-40% in profits.