Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday spurned Shehbaz Sharif’s suggestion of forming a national government to resolve the country’s problems, adding that the only solution to national issues was democracy, acceptance of majority’s opinion and rule of law. “The only reason Shehbaz is not in prison is that the courts are not hearing his cases on a daily basis. He would have been in Adiala jail instead of Mazar-i-Quaid if the law was acted upon,” the minister told a press conference after the federal cabinet meeting. He asked the media to analyze evidences of Shehbaz Sharif’s corrupt practices, instead of criticizing the government. He alleged that instead of calling for the implementation of the law, Shehbaz is ‘pondering 24 hours [about] what can be his role [in government] and how he can become a part of the government’. “There are some people who have worked with the PML-N president for a long time and they want as well to somehow force him into becoming a part of the government,” he claimed. “Currently, I think [PML-N Vice President] Maryam [Nawaz] isn’t including him in the PML-N so him becoming a part of the government is a far-fetched idea,” he added. Fawad said PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif and Chairman PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari are opposing election reforms and Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) apparently without reading the draft proposals. He said the opposition has only one role and that is to oppose every action of the government and for the purpose, it is even ready to make an alliance with the ‘devil’. “The government is ready to negotiate with the opposition on these initiatives if they have worked out any suggestions in this regard,” he added. About electoral reforms, he said the PTI was the first government which had been striving to ensure free and fair elections in the country. Prior to the PTI, there was not a single government in the country’s history which thought of electoral reforms, he added. He said the debate of electoral reforms, initiated by the present government was fundamental one as there could be no concept of democracy in a state without free and fair elections. He said the government was striving to hold negotiation with the opposition on electoral reforms, but their response was lukewarm. Fawad refuted the reports of prolonged stay of foreign nationals, evacuated from Afghanistan, in the country. “The number of total Americans who had arrived Pakistan was 155 who had proceeded now, while 42 people of American services were still here and were to leave Pakistan at any time on Tuesday,” he said. “All the people who had arrived Pakistan during evacuation process, were transit passengers,” he said, adding that no American was staying in Pakistan to date. “It is our commitment from the very first day that we will not only help evacuate citizens of all sort of nationalities, but also provide support for completing evacuation process,” he said. About Pakistan’s continued placement on the red list issued by the United Kingdom in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, he said Imran Khan spoke to his UK Counterpart Boris Johnson on the issue. He said the UK government considered that there was a need to hold discussions on testing mechanism. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal and Chief Medical Scientist of UK will have a long discussion on this matter this week, he added.