PML-N's Dar appointed house leader in Senate

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was appointed as leader of the house in the Senate on Friday, according to a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is also the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), appointed Dar to the post.

Earlier this year, the premier had appointed federal law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar as leader of the house in the Senate.

It is pertinent to note that Dar was sworn in as a senator a day after he had returned to the country after a five-year-long 'self-exile'. Following this, he was sworn in as the new finance minister.

Read Dar sworn in as senator amid kerfuffle

The PML-N leader had left the country in 2017 while standing trial in a corruption reference.

The move came after former finance minister Miftah Ismail stepped down from his post to make way for the PML-N senator.

The decision to appoint Dar as the new financial czar was made following an important party meeting held under the chairmanship of party supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in London.

On Wednesday he had appeared before an accountability court in the assets reference, right after taking the oath of office as federal minister.

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Explaining his reason to not have had appeared before the court all these years, Dar had told the court that his passport was cancelled by the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, and all embassies had also been instructed to not issue a new passport to him.

“In spite of my poor health, I still wanted to return and now that I have been issued a passport, I have come back,” Dar had told Judge Muhammad Bashir.

During the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was issued a notice on Dar's plea seeking cancellation of the arrest warrant against him.