ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said “senile JUI-F cleric could not bear his disrespect at the hand of young Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and started talking on issues about which he knows nothing.”

Speaking at a presser a day after Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed that “we are not capable of fighting for 24 hours,” the minister said: “The cleric must keep his mouth shut if he knows nothing about the sacrifices rendered by the armed forces for the country.”

He continued that the statement by the cleric is tantamount to insulting the martyrs, who had sacrificed their lives in war against terrorism and for security of the motherland.

Advising Fazl to avoid giving such irresponsible statements, the minister recalled that it was the cleric who had expressed skepticism about Pakistan’s defence capabilities by stating that Taliban had reached the hills near the federal capital.

His misplaced suspicions were dispelled by Pakistan’s valiant armed forces and law enforcement agencies by breaking the back of terrorists, he added.

The minister said it was better for the Maulana not to cast such unfounded doubts on the matters of national interest only to satisfy his political ego.

“Where was this JUI-F cleric when Pakistan had responded to Indian aggression on February 27, 2019”, he questioned.

He said the cleric should have shown concern about innocent Kashmiris facing Indian brutalities when his ‘friend’ Nawaz Sharif was embracing his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Raiwind.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021