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Updated 26 Sep, 2022 11:56pm

Ishaq Dar returns to Pakistan after five-years of exile

Former finance minister and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar landed in Pakistan along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday after spending five years in a self-imposed exile, Aaj TV reported.

“We’ll pull Pakistan out of economic maelstrom as we did back in 1998-99 and in 2013-14,” Dar told the reporters.

He said that he had returned to the country by grace of God. “Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have handed over the responsibility of the finance ministry to me,” the former finance minister said.

The premier and his delegation reached Islamabad directly from London in a special plane and landed at Noor Khan Air Base.

He will likely take the oath as a Senator on Tuesday before being sworn-in as the finance minister.

Incumbent Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has already announced his resigation and will formally resign.

The report of his returns have already created a ripple through Pakistan’s money market with the US dollar finding itself in a free fall against the Pakistani rupee on Monday.

However, Dar’s problems are not over. There are cases against him.

On Monday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reserved its decision on a petition seeking expulsion of Dar from the Senate.

Dar was elected as Senator in 2018 Senate elections while he was in exile. He never returned to the country to take oath.

A petition was filed before the ECP to declare Dar’s Senate seat vacant in view of an ordinance issued by the PTI government.

The ordinance said that Parliament seats where the elected members have not taken the oath should be declared vacant after a certain period.

The ECP’s reserved judgement now determine the fate of Dar’s Parliament membership.

A more serious threat for the PMLN leader comes from an assets-beyond-means case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). An accountability court was hearing the case when Dar left the country in September 2017, immediately after he was indicted on September 27.

The court declared him a proclaimed offender in the same year. Arrest warrants were issued for him.

Dar challenged the decision before the Supreme Court of Pakistan but in a surprise move he withdrew the petition earlier this month.

Soon afterwards, the accountability court suspended the warrant, allowing Dar to appear before the court by October 7 with any fear of arrest.

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