'Ishaq Dar's name was not proposed for caretaker PM'

No one in the government proposed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's name for caretaker prime minister, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Friday.

The interior minister, while speaking on Geo News' programme "Geo Pakistan," said: "Neither was Ishaq Dar's name suggested, nor was it rejected. It can be a rumour."

Sanaullah said that, currently, talks were underway about whether a bureaucrat or a politician should be appointed to the coveted post.

"In case there's a consensus that a politician can be appointed, then it can either be Ishaq Dar or any other politician from any party," he said.

However, he added, the government would try to appoint a person acceptable to all sides.

Earlier this week rumours that Dar was a possible candidate for the post of interim CM began to ciculate. However, neither Dar nor any other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader rejected these rumours.

In fact, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that the finance minister could be appointed to the post.

It was only later that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif denied the reports, with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also against his appointment.

'Completely wrong'

During the show, Sanaullah also spoke about the return of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who has been residing in London since 2019, to Pakistan.

The minister said people had a wrong assumption that the incumbent government has the authority to allow Nawaz to stage a comeback in politics.

"This is completely wrong. The government does not have this right," he said, pointing fingers at the Supreme Court.

Sanaullah said the top court had disqualified Nawaz through an order no one accepted. He blamed the judges for being "biased" against the PML-N supremo.

The minister further added that PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz had secured acquittals in her cases through courts, and Nawaz would do the same once he returned.

"Nawaz Sharif will soon return. He will first secure interim bails and then secure acquittals. All the political restrictions imposed on him through conspiracies will end."

Parliament has passed a law that limits the disqualification of a parliamentarian to five years, benefiting Nawaz, who was barred for a lifetime from running for office.