PML-N leader Ishaq Dar returns to Pakistan after five years in self-exile.

ISLAMABAD -- After a self-exile of nearly five years and several speculations, senior PML-N leader and 'finance wizard' Ishaq Dar returned to Pakistan on Monday night.

The former minister landed at the Nur Khan Airbase in Chaklala, Rawalpindi. He accompanied Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his trip back to the country from London.

Talking to reporters at the airbase, Dar said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and the premier had tasked him with the finance portfolio.

'I will try my best to fulfill all the responsibilities. We will try to take out the country from the economic swamp it is stuck in [...] the way we did in 1998-1999 and 2013-2014.'

Dar expressed hope that 'we will now head in a positive direction'.

Dar's return had been under speculation for months with certain top members of the PML-N - like Maryam Nawaz and Javed Latif - on several occasions publicly attacking and disowning former finance minister Miftah Ismail's policies, in particular, the inevitable reversal of the costly fuel subsidy introduced by the previous PTI government.

Dar had also overtly challenged Ismail and undermined his decision-making over the past months.

Last week, an accountability court had suspended an outstanding arrest warrant against Dar, paving the way for the former finance minister's return from London.

Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir issued a suspension order for a perpetual warrant of arrest against Dar, which was issued...