LAHORE: Former Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) chairman and PPP leader Asif Hashmi has expressed the desire to return to the country to face cases against him, blaming the Pakistan Embassy in Dubai for not returning his passport, according to a report by a private media outlet.
Asif Hashmi has stated that after Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar summoned him in the (land) cases “I want to return (to Pakistan) but the officials at the Pakistan Embassy in Dubai told me they had received no official direction in this regard.”
Earlier, the Interpol rejected the government’s request to arrest Hashmi. The government had reportedly spent over Rs10 million in fee to plead its case there.
Asif Hashmi stated that the CJP had set a deadline of February 6 for him to appear in the cases he was facing in the National Accountability Bureau and Federal Investigation Agency with regard to land deals, illegal recruitment etc.
“I ask the Pakistani government to issue directions to its embassy in Dubai to return my passport so that I could return and face the cases. It appears some elements in the government want to defame me. I urge the CJP to take notice of this,” Hashmi said, adding that earlier the Lahore High Court had stopped the government from arresting him on his arrival but the embassy had refused to return his passport.