ISLAMABAD - Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Monday claimed that the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan had expressed his regret over getting the Sharif family a reprieve from the then President General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf.
The two leaders had met on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai on Sunday, February 10.
In his twitter post, Hussain claimed that PM Khan informed Mr Hariri how the talks of a possible ‘NRO’ with Nawaz Sharif were making rounds throughout the world.
On this, Hussain says, the Lebanese premier ‘raised both his hands’ and said it was a ‘huge mistake’ to get the former first family a reprieve.
“He never fulfiled any of his commitments; I faced severe embarrassment due to this”, Hussain quoted Hariri as saying.
نواز شریف کو پرویز مشرف سے NRO دلوانے والے سعد الحریری کو وزیر اعظم بتا رہے تھے کہ پاکستان میں پھر نواز شریف کو NRO کی بازگشت ہے ،سعدالحریری نے دونوں ہاتھ اٹھا کہ کہا شریف خاندان کو معافی دلوانا بہت بڑی غلطی تھی انھوں نے ایک کمٹمنٹ بھی پوری نہیں کی اور مجھے سخت شرمندگی ہوئ
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 11, 2019 link
Back in September 2007, Mr Hariri, while addressing a joint press conference in Rawalpindi with the Chief of Saudi intelligence Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz had urged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif not to return to Pakistan and abide by his agreement with King Abdullah which bound him to stay out of Pakistan for ten years.
Both Mr Hariri and Prince Muqrin had expressed the hope that Mr Sharif would honour the agreement which was negotiated with the then Pakistani government by Mr Hariri and was guaranteed by the Saudi royal family.
Mr Hariri, during the press conference, had said that he had played a key role in getting the former prime minister out of jail in 2000 and have him exiled to Saudi Arabia as a guest of the royal family.