ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Wednesday said the government was employing optimum diplomatic channels to ensure early repatriation of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif from London.

Addressing a news conference, he said since there was no extradition treaty with the United Kingdom that was why the government had formally requested the UK authorities through the Pakistani ambassador in London to initiate the repatriation process of Nawaz Sharif, who had been declared an absconder by the court.

The minister said the past rulers had deliberately refrained from signing an extradition treaty with certain countries, including the UK, keeping in mind the option to escape in future to those states where they had stashed the looted national wealth and built palatial houses.

Referring to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Shibli Faraz said with the seating arrangements on stages during the public meetings, the PDM leaders seemed to be pursuing the modus operandi of ‘Banarsi Thugs’, who cheated the people with their opulent looks.

The masses had knowledge about their financial status prior to joining politics as how once bike riders did manage to become owners of land cruisers, he added.

Shibli said on the one hand a sinister alliance of opposition had emerged as the PDM just to befool the people with their lies and concocted stories and on the other, Prime Minister Imran Khan was striving hard to mitigate the financial woes faced by the masses.

He said the prime minister fully believed in addressing the issues of downtrodden segments of the society by taking pro-poor initiatives.