ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday accused the opposition of political point scoring over 'Karachi incident' and attempting to weaken democracy in the country.
In back to back pressers in response to the opposition parties allegations, first jointly by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz and Adviser on Interior Shahzad Akbar, followed by another press conference by Minister for Communication Murad Saeed, the ministers strongly condemned the alleged efforts of the opposition to score political points on the Karachi incident aimed at weakening democracy.
Faraz said the opposition parties wanted to create chaos and uncertainty "as they are scared that their politics will end, if Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds in his mission to take forward the country on the path of progress and development".
"Unfortunately, the opposition parties want confrontation among the institutions...they can no longer deceive the people through their political 'drama' based on vested interests. The entire nation knows their agenda," he said, adding that the economy had been revived and all the economic indicators were on the positive trajectory.
At the moment when the country needs a stable environment for fostering economic growth, he added the opposition wants to damage democracy and the country.
"If he [PM] succeeds, then your politics will be over," he said, adding that the opposition had exhibited this in handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"You talk about Pakistan's chain of command. Khaqan sahib! You are the biggest violator. Have you forgotten the LNG deals you made? Why are gas prices going up? It's because of you," the information minister said, while further responding to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's earlier presser who held the prime minister as solely responsible for the Karachi incident.
He said that the PML-N only believed in the sanctity of the "chadar and char dewari" when it came to Maryam Nawaz.
"Have they forgotten when they shot at the faces of pregnant women in Model Town? And that when they dropped pictures of Benazir Bhutto from helicopters?" he posed questions to the PML-N leadership.
He said that the opposition had also mentioned the first lady in their criticism, who was not even involved in politics.
"Your morals have fallen so low that you are not willing to let anyone go," he further responded to the PML-N leaders.
The minister acknowledged that there was price hike in the country, but Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government were striving hard to control the inflation.
He added that institutions were destroyed in the past and the incumbent government was attempting to bring improvement by appointing people of good repute as their heads.
Responding to Pakistan People's Party (PPP)'s criticism over the federal government, Faraz rejected as 'baseless' the statement made by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on floor of Sindh Assembly that a federal minister threatened him of the dismissal of the provincial government 'if a case was not filed against PML-N leader Capt (retired) Safdar'.
He said that the current PPP leadership had turned their party into a regional party.
Shahzad Akbar said the PPP government in Sindh fanned controversies on the incident that took place at the mausoleum of founding father Quaid-i-Azam, adding that there was hooliganism at the mausoleum upon which some people filed a written application against Capt Safdar (retired).
According to him, the law and order was responsibility of the Sindh government after the 18th Amendment, adding that Capt (retired) Safdar was arrested by the Sindh police.
He said that it was a not a secret matter, and everybody know who gives orders to the Sindh police.
"We also need to know as to who benefited from the incident," he said, adding that the Sindh police has already explained everything through tweets that the arrest was made as per the law.
He pointed out that soon after the incident Indian media resorted to propaganda against Pakistan to malign the country.
Referring to the legislation about Kulbhushan Jhadav, he said that the government was taking measures in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment to provide the right to review and reconsideration to the arrested Indian spy.
Speaking at a press conference separately, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed lashed out at the opposition for politicising the Karachi incident, and using it for its alleged vested interests.
He said that Pakistan has successfully defeated terrorism and now the country is known for 'best tourism destinations' instead of terrorism.
"I want to congratulate the entire nation that after 17 years Pakistan has now come out of the current account deficit and has now entered a current account surplus. They were thinking of economic crisis and economic emergency, but now we achieved economic stability despite the fact that coronavirus pandemic has affected the economy of the entire world," he claimed.
"It is unfortunate that the opposition is engaged in carrying forward narrative of the enemies by maligning state institutions, especially the security agencies," he said, adding that the opposition was doing all this to protect corruption of their leaders.
He said that Pakistan would move on the path of development after attaining economic development, adding that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would continue progressing.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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