MANDI BAHAUDDIN, Feb 13 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Sunday came hard on the opposition for another attempt to oust the democratically elected government, saying, “It has no guts and prowess to bring a no-trust motion.”
The opposition, he added, had made such an abortive bid earlier and its current endeavour would also meet the same fate.
“The no trust move can succeed only when the opposition parties are standing on their own feet, but not through beseeching, entreating or hatching conspiracies,” the minister said in a media talk here.
Fawad said the very next day of their announcement, he had challenged the opposition to table the no-confidence motion. However, they had not yet given any date for the purpose as they had preempted their defeat.
Pakistan, he said, could not be handed over to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who did not have any political prowess. The people could not be deceived any more as they had tried them earlier.
The Pakistan Peoples Party, the minister said, had never done ‘religious politics’, but its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari now stood by Maulana Fazlur Rehman who, he believed, could bring out students of seminaries for the public meetings and long marches.
Bilawal knew that his party was no more a crowd puller and, therefore, he was relying on the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl chief for the survival of his politics, he added.
The minister held Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif responsible for relegating their once mainstream political parties to regional ones, and said now their last hope was Maulana Fazl, who, ironically, failed to blackmail the government in the past by bringing the seminary students to Islamabad.
“This time it will not be different and we will get rid of their blackmailing once for and all,” he said in an apparent reference to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who used the seminary students for showing his political prowess.
The minister sarcastically remarked on the planned long march of Maluana Fazl led multi-party alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, saying the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf could rent them out the container used by the party during their struggle against the corrupt rulers.
As regards the ongoing accountability drive, he said Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Safdar had been convicted for their corruption, while Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz would be indicted in the money laundering case soon.
He once again reiterated the demand for live broadcast of the court proceedings of Shehbaz Sharif’s cases as it would help the media and the public to analyze the money laundering evidence against the PML-N president.
The minister said an amount of Rs 4 billion had poured into the account of Maqsood, a peon who drawing the monthly salary of Rs 25,000 from Shehbaz Sharif’s mill.
Highlighting the government’s mega initiatives for the public socio-economic welfare, Fawad said the people in different provinces were availing free medical treatment of up to Rs 1 million under the Sehat Sahulat Programme of the PTI government.
When PTI came into the power, he said, the country’s economy was at the verge of default due to poor economic policies of “Ishaq Dar and company”. Prime Minister Imran Khan implemented prudent policies to stabilize the economy.
Now the economy was growing at 5.37 per cent due to robust economic activity in the agriculture and industrial sectors, he added.
It was only the PTI government which had extended massive support to the farmers which led to bumper crops of maize, wheat, rice and sugar cane after a long hiatus, he noted.
Laborers, farmers and others, he said, were also reaping the benefits of the government’s prudent policies. An amount of Rs 1,100 billion was injected in the agriculture sector while investment of billions of rupees was brought into the construction sector.
He said there had been a boom in the textile sector, which was facing crisis like situation during the previous government. Massive job opportunities were created in the sector, which witnessed a 24 per cent increase in the machinery import.
Addressing the opposition leaders, Fawad said ironically, those were criticizing the government who were directly responsible for economic instability in the country.
He mentioned successful visit of PM Imran Khan to China and said the prime minister would be the first Pakistani leader, who would be visiting Russia after two decades.
The ranking of Pakistan was improving at international level, he said, lashing out at those who were spreading fake news about the country’s instability.
To a query about the opposition leaders meeting with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s leadership, he said they would not get any political benefit from there.
The minister said, “There was no restriction on the media.” The cable operators themselves took notice of the immorality displayed on a TV talk show by those who were not even the journalists.
The society as whole, he said, had to revolt for putting an end to such immorality.
All the media bodies should also condemn such immoral behaviours, he added vowing to protect the journalists rights across the country.
About increase of the electricity prices, he said it was due to the expensive agreements signed by the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.
The minister also highlighted the initiatives taken by the PTI government for the socio-economic development of the people of Jhelum and Mandi Bahauddin districts and said the construction of roads and universities would usher in a new era of progress in the areas.
He said the prime minister had given historic development packages for the people of those areas. The Lillah-Jhelum dual carriageway would improve the areas’ connectivity with other regions.