Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday criticised interim interior minister Sarfraz Bugti for his statement that party supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif would be arrested on his return if he was not granted bail.
Rana Sanaullah's reaction comes after Bugti in an interview to a private news channel on Monday said that the government would arrest Nawaz if he failed to procure bail from courts.
The PML-N leader said that the caretaker minister crossed his limits by making such a statement.
Rana Sanaulla said that Sarfraz Bugti should see the fate of former interior minister Sheikh Rashid before giving such remarks.
The PM L-N leader said that people and the country bore the brunt of the conspiracy allegedly hatched against Nawaz to oust him from power.
The former interior minister said that Bugti should not try to elevate his political stature by making statements about Nawaz Sharif.
"Don't worry about Nawaz. He has faced both prisons and the forces. You worry about your own duty,"Sana responded to Bugti, saying that people would decide where Nawaz will go from the airport on October 21 and not the interior minister.
Meanwhile, PML-N Information Secretary and former federal information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also stated that where Nawaz Sharif chose to go from the airport was neither the problem of the interior minister nor his decision.
"This is Nawaz Sharif’s and the people's decision," the PML-N leader said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).
Marriyum advised the caretaker interior minister to use his resources to provide security and peace to the people. Nawaz is "for life" while Bugti is in office temporarily, she said.
c501a84dc2a7beb0f6f35627f443397dIssuing clarification later today Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that his remarks regarding PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif have been taken out of context and politicised.
In a statement, he emphasized the caretaker government has no political agenda.
Bugti said it is welcoming that Nawaz Sharif wants to return to Pakistan's politics.
"Nawaz Sharif will be treated according to law on his return home," he said.
Bugti emphasized the importance of avoiding rumours and assumptions and urged everyone to examine issues through the lens of reality.
The interior minister reiterated the caretaker government will act according to its mandate.
The discourse comes as the PML-N supremo prepares to return to Pakistan.
On September 12, PML-N president and former premier Shehbaz Sharif had confirmed that the former premier will return to Pakistan on October 21.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted in the Al-Azizia Mills and Avenfield corruption cases in 2018. He served a seven-year imprisonment at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Mills case before he was allowed to go to London in November 2019 on “medical grounds.”
In February 2020, the then Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government had declared Nawaz Sharif an absconder, and later in the same year, an accountability court had declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles reference.
