ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Wednesday said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 10 opposition parties, failed to defeat Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Addressing a press conference, he said Imran Khan was politically heavy weight and PDM could not topple his government. PMD narrative had completely been rejected by the public, he said, adding that he had told Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief that he would be deceived at the end of the day.

He said PDM should come to parliament and support government’s positive initiative of election reforms. Government never created any hurdle for the PDM and the only problem was former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s passport which he himself did not renew, he said, adding if Sharif wanted to come to Pakistan, government would issue an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) to him within 24 hours.

About postponement of long march by PDM, he said it was the right decision of opposition parties. He did not want to comments on the internal affairs of PDM, he said.

To a question, he said there were two political factions of different political thinking in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) within the Sharif family.

When he was asked about any contact with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he replied in negative. However, he said he had friends in PPP, adding PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Latif Khosa were his friends and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was also his friend.

Rashid said Prime Minister Khan had postponed his scheduled political gathering due to rise in coronavirus cases in the country. The government had announced a Ramadan package worth about Rs8 billion to benefit poor people, he said.

Interior Minister said the Prime Minister had directed all ministers and members of parliament to work actively in order to control prices of essential commodities as “it should be our top most priority in the next two and half years.”

The minister said he visited Qatar for conveying Prime Minister’s message. The visas of Kuwait would soon be opened which was banned in 2011, which would produce job opportunities for the Pakistanis, he said. Rashid said that two new dams were being built in the country, which would produce cheap electricity along with employment opportunities for the locals.

He said the ministry had decided to call back officers of passport and immigration and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) who were overstaying in different countries. New officers would be sent to different countries on merit basis, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021