Difficult to bring back money stashed abroad: Fawad Ch

LONDON -  Minister for Information, Fawad Chaudhry expressed on Wednesday that it was difficult to bring back the money that was transferred abroad, adding that the PM’s advisor on accountability Shahzad Akbar was still striving hard and talking to different countries in this regard.

Talking to newsmen in London, the minister said that if 10-15 people within Pakistan are caught 'then the whole amount will be caught' but fell short of naming said people.

Earlier while speaking at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), the lawmaker said that Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership were on the same page after a long time and operation against Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was started under a joint strategy of all institutions.

Chaudhry claimed that Imran Khan’s rise and PTI’s emergence as the third party showed that Pakistan’s middle classes were happy with the country affirming that all institutions were giving full support to the government.

The minister highlighted that extremism was not only confined to Pakistan, amd countries such as Germany, France and UK were also affected by this; he claimed that some groups from the UK sent money to militant groups in Pakistan.

"It is unfortunate that Pakistan was being seen in the West with the lens of Af-Pak instead of Pakistan on its own as a vibrant, democratic nation," he observed.

The minister asserted that Imran Khan represented a revolution of the Pakistani middle class, adding that the primary slogan of prime minister remains transparency and good governance, Geo News reported.

He stated that the main accomplishment of sitting regime was performance as rest of the two parties were not in the game anymore.

On the issue of Pak-India ties, the minister said that it was in India’s interest to develop friendship with Islamabad.

"For the opening of the Kartarpur border, PTI government was able to take such a big decision with full cooperation from Pakistan Army," he added.

The minister hoped that the Indian government will revisit its approach once elections are over across the border, maintaining that Kashmir remained the core issue and Pakistan would not change its stance.