ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: Inter-Services Public Relations director-general and government spokesman Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi said on Saturday that the government will not allow any member of the Sharif family to return.

Speaking in the Pakistan Television programme “Encounter”, he said there was no doubt that the Sharif family could not return to the country before the lapse 10 years.

He said the Sharif family went outside the country on its own request and under an arrangement. The Saudi government, which was a party to the deal, would also not allow them to leave its land, he said. The decision to send the family to exile was taken in the national interest, he claimed.

Gen Qureshi said Pakistan Muslim League and its chairman, Raja Zafarul Haq, were not even aware when the Sharif family was leaving the country.

The family held talks with the government for a deal for a long time and Kulsoom Nawaz was holding meetings while carrying out negotiations for an arrangement to get out of the country, he said.

He said that due to sensitive nature of the deal, the government could not divulge its details. However, in the future, the government might come up with aspects of the deal, he said.

The family had signed some papers to conclude the deal, he said.

He said people should remember that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had an aeroplane case against him and the punishment awarded by the courts to him stood valid. He said there were also many other cases of loot and plunder against the Sharif family.

He said former prime minister Benazir Bhutto would have to face cases if she decided to return.

Replying to a question, he said Ms Bhutto had fled the country to evade corruption cases before the government took over.

At least 12 cases of loot and plunder were pending against her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, he said.

He said a court had convicted Benazir Bhutto for absconding from the law.

He claimed that the people did not want Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to return to the country and feared that they would again commit corruption.

He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf did not believe in personal agenda.—APP