Nawaz Sharif to return next month to lead election campaign: PM

ISLAMABAD, :Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Quaid Nawaz Sharif would come back to Pakistan next month and face his cases in courts.
The prime minister, in an interview with a private news channel, said after the formation of the caretaker government he would visit London to consult Nawaz Sharif on his plan for return.
Nawaz Sharif would lead the election campaign of his party and would be the next prime minister for the fourth time if the PML-N won the next election, he added.
The prime minister said last night the president signed the advice to dissolve the National Assembly and he had talked with the coalition partners about the caretaker prime minister and the decision in that regard would be made in the next three days.
“Tomorrow we will hopefully finalize a name for the post of caretaker prime minister,” he said, adding he would further consult the matter with the allied parties and Nawaz Sharif.
He said as he had been saying all along he would hand over the government to the caretaker set-up and the Election Commission would decide about the date for new elections.
The Council of Common Interests (CCI) had already approved the new digital census and the election would be held according to it, he added.
“We have followed the Constitution and now the institutions have the responsibility to hold the elections,” he remarked, adding he desired that elections should be held as soon as possible.
Shehbaz pointed out that he led the shortest government of 16 months formed by the coalition parties of various ideologies and thinking.
“We proved to the people that the coalition parties were united for sake of the country. We performed our responsibilities in the best interests of the state.”
He said after his taking charge of office the country faced devastating floods and the government within its limited resources provided timely relief to the people, took steps for their rehabilitation and transparently distributed the aid that came from foreign countries.
The biggest contribution of his government, he said, was that Pakistan was saved from default and for that his government went through a difficult phase of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF managing director at one point in a meeting with him in Paris said that no time was left for revival of the  programme but later an agreement was reached for loan of three billion dollars, he recalled.
The PM said in the four years of the previous government, relations with friendly and brotherly countries were damaged and long time friends of Pakistan were alienated.
He said the countries like Saudi Arabia unconditionally came to the rescue of Pakistan on numerous difficult occasions in the past, provided monetary assistance to it and gave oil on deferred payment for three years but despite all that the previous government could not maintain better ties with the brotherly country.

Daily Independent

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