Blasphemy by Salman Rushdie — was Nawaz Sharif PM at that time?

Prime Minister Imran Khan said in his address to the nation on Monday that Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister of Pakistan when Salman Rushdie committed blasphemy, and asked why didn’t he speak up against him?

It’s worth mentioning here that Salman Rushdie published his blasphemous book in September 1988 and the entire Muslim world had protested against it at that time. And it wasn’t Nawaz Sharif who was the prime minister of Pakistan at that time. It was an interim government in Pakistan at that time after the death of military ruler Zia-ul-Haq. Nawaz Sharif came into power in 1990, two years after Salman Rushdie published his controversial book. 

Prime Minister Imran Khan has faced criticism in the past due to his misquotes. He was in Iran when he declared Germany and Japan neighbours with a shared border. He also came under fire for misquoting Jesus Christ’s remarks about the Holy Quran.