ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Monday unanimously passed a resolution, condemning the recent statements issued by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan “against the armed forces of Pakistan”.
The resolution, moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi, said the PTI chief twisted the historical facts to malign the armed forces of the country by giving an impression that they were conspiring against the country.
It said that Pakistan's security forces are defending country's borders fearlessly and have given countless sacrifices while defending the country against the scourge of terrorism. The resolution said any attempt to malign a state institution for political gains is a disservice to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, called for tackling and stopping defamatory language, being used by Imran Khan against the institution of Pakistan Army and its leadership, as per law of the land and Constitution.
“The country will further divide and head towards chaos and anarchy if notice of Imran Khan’s defamatory language against Pakistan Army and its leadership is not taken as per law and Constitution,” Shehbaz said.
“The use of objectionable language and spitting of venom against the state institution and its leadership is a conspiracy against the country, which must be stopped,” he said. The PM said there could not be any example worse than the one Imran Khan cited while calling the army chief and other military leadership Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq, who had deceived Sirajud-Daulah in the struggle against the British Army.
Shehbaz said Imran Khan was no more in power, but he was a ladla [blue-eyed] once, and was fed like a baby by the state institution for three-and-a-half years, adding that he was saying that without any fear of contradiction.
He said Imran Niazi was unfortunate that despite having unprecedented support from the institution, neither he learnt anything, nor he showed any performance in serving the nation. “I used to say in a lighter vein that had we been given 20 or 30 per cent of such support, we would have taken the country to new heights,” he said.
He said that despite having that support his government met failure and now he was following the policy of “neither we’ll play, nor let anyone else play’. About much-talked-about conspiracy mantra by the PTI, Shehbaz said the National Security Committee (NSC) also said that it did not find even a shred of conspiracy and the same was supported by the then Pakistan ambassador to the United States, who was called to the NSC sitting.
The PM said the PTI-led government increased the country's debt by 85 per cent, while fiscal deficit also reached the record level of Rs5,500 billion. He said the last government mortgaged the future of coming generations by taking massive loans.
About power outages on Eidul Fitr days, as pointed out by PTI’s dissident member Noor Alam Afridi in his point of order, the PM said the government would investigate the matter. Later, during the Assembly session, the Speaker, in his ruling, also condemned defamation of an institution like Pakistan Army openly or in hidden words. He ruled that use of such language to defame country’s institutions was against the Constitution and country’s interests.
Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif, speaking in the National Assembly, said that Imran Khan was bent upon following a policy to destroy institutions, which guarantee existence of the country. He said Imran Khan, who levelled charges of Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq, himself was acting as Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq. He said there were no two opinions that they had always spoken against military interventions, but now when the political forces wanted to uphold the Constitution, it was Imran Khan who was trying to create hurdles and trying to disrupt the process. He regretted that Imran Khan was using religion card and people’s anti-US sentiments for his vested interests.
Meanwhile, responding to a calling attention notice, Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel informed the House that stipend to all post-graduate trainees at PIMS Hospital would be paid by the next month.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said the public could lodge their complaints on toll free number 0800-73672 regarding violation of code and conduct of electronic media. She said Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has established an effective mechanism to check code of conduct on TV and Radio broadcast. She said a council of complaints had been established at each provincial headquarters to mitigate grievances of the public about any aspect of content being aired on private electronic media.
Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri announced granting right to appeal to those beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme who were excluded by the last government. She said now people could send their CNIC numbers to 8171 to check their eligibility. The Fiscal and Debt Policy, January 2022 and Mid-Year Budget Review Report FY 2021-22 were laid before the House.
Prior to start of the National Assembly session, the PMLN parliamentary party demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demonstrate zero tolerance for attacking the Constitution, judiciary and other institutions and take legal action against Imran Khan.
PM Shehbaz Sharif told the meeting that he could not be defeated as losing heart had never been his training of life, and he would put the country on the road to progress with the support of his allies in the government.
