Fawad, Gill take a dig at Shehbaz meet with Chaudhrys

JHELUM/ ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Sunday took a dig at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) President Shehbaz Sharif for reaching out to the Chaudhry brothers in the backdrop of a no-confidence motion planned by the opposition against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Shehbaz Sharif went to Chaudhry Shujaat’s house after 14 to 15 years,” he said, adding: “There is a Punjabi proverb which goes as: ‘Sadqy Is Thanedaar Ton Jinnay Maa Yad Kra Diti’” (All praise to the SHO whose punishment reminded them of their mother), he said while responding to a query in the media talk about the opposition leaders’ contact with the PMLQ leadership.

The minister used the Punjabi proverb to illustrate the current state of opposition which, out of its desperation, now was knocking at the doors of their political opponents to oust the democratically elected prime minister.

To another query, he said the government would complete its five-year constitutional term and all the development projects would be completed within the stipulated time.

Earlier talking to the media in Mandi Bahauddin, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain came hard on the opposition, 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.

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 People’s 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.

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 analyse the money laundering evidence against the PMLN president.

The minister said an amount of Rs4 billion had poured into the account of Maqsood, a peon who drawing the monthly salary of Rs25,000 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 Rs1 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 stabilise 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 Rs1,100 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 criticising 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.

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 PMLN 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.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill, meanwhile, taking a dig at Shehbaz’s contact with Chaudhrys remarked that that according to unconfirmed reports, Chaudhry brothers have invited PMLN president to join PMLQ, adding that Shehbaz has affirmed to consider the option. Gill, in a tweet, said that at least Shehbaz would get more respect in Q-League, as in N-League he is deputed to play the lackey, sometimes for political opponents and occasionally for own leaders.