Govt to exhaust all legal options to bring back Nawaz Sharif: Shibli Faraz

Minister for Information Shibli Faraz on Friday vowed that the government "will bring back Nawaz Sharif using all legal means that are available".

Addressing a media briefing in Islamabad, Faraz said that the government will approach the National Accountability Bureau which will in turn ask the foreign ministry to put in a request to the British government for the PML-N supremo's extradition.

"We think it has now become necessary to bring back Nawaz Sharif," the information minister said, adding that it is now the court's job to decide in the matter and that the government will facilitate necessary action.

"Those who are sought by the law must be brought back and those who are answerable must appear before the court," he said.

Referring to a ruling by the Islamabad High Court earlier this week, he said that the court had declared his presence necessary if an extension in bail is sought.

"The law will take its own course; we have expedited our efforts [to see him brought back]," Faraz said.

The information minister said that Nawaz cares deeply about retaining his "looted wealth", which he said "will not happen".

"Nawaz Sharif left under the pretext of illness. He is the master of this sort of thing," he added.

Nawaz was granted bail on humanitarian grounds by the IHC on October 29, 2019 in the Al Azizia corruption case. He also obtained bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case from the Lahore High Court on October 25, 2019.

Nawaz then left for London for medical treatment and has since remained there. 

"Forget treatment, he did not even get a single x-ray taken," Faraz said, adding that the government had repeatedly asked for reports but none were provided.

He said that Nawaz has also not submitted a single deed of his property for the past five or six years.

"These people (Sharifs) have done a lot of damage to the country [...] the country is steeped deep in debt," he said.

"It is Nawaz Sharif's moral duty to come back and answer for his deeds," the information minister added.

Meanwhile, PML-N's Rana Sanaullah challenged the government to take whatever action they please. "The government is afraid of what will happen to them if Nawaz Sharif recovers," he said.

Sanaullah said that "the matter of Nawaz's x-rays and medicines is one for the doctors to decide and not the government".