ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan Friday said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wanted to have powers of the courts, the NAB and the FIA, wishing all institutions to act according to their whims.
Speaking at a news conference here, she asserted that untrue reports were attributed to the DG Forensic Punjab despite the fact that a report on the purposed video and audio clips of Judge Arshad Malik was yet to be furnished.
She claimed that a political clique was involved in spreading baseless information adding that it was a way of Maryam Safdar’s party to cheat people and speak lies.
“If I could recall, it were you, as you had once said you own no property in Pakistan what to talk of having it abroad,” she quipped.
Dr. Awan also reminded Maryam how the Sharif family had left Pakistan along with 40 boxes. She alleged that the PML-N senior leader Ahsan Iqbal had been focusing on building a sports stadium near the border with India and violations of rules and regulations had been committed in the project.
The matter, she noted, was being taken care of by the Supreme Court and the FIA would submit its report to the court.
She said a video made 16 years ago was reduced to five minutes with changes and then run. However, Dr. Awan said the FIA would also file a report with the court on the motives behind the clips.
Calling the PML-N leadership a mafia, she said they had made such stories and spoken lies so much that these sounded like the truth.
About the role of opposition parties, she said a gang devoid of political maturity was spreading fake and poisonous propaganda to mislead people, insisting it would not work.
To a question, she said Prime Minister Imran Khan during his visit to the US would not take out a chit from his pocket and start reading it out like the past rulers — a reference to the ex-PM Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
She explained that the prime minister would sensitise the international community to the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan to bring peace and stability to the region.
She said Pakistan had emerged as a proponent of peace and the entire world had acknowledged its pivotal role in resolving the Afghan conflict.
Dr. Awan said the civil and military leadership was on the same page and for them the national interest was above all things. She said PM Khan’s US visit had set an example of austerity, as he had traveled by a commercial flight and will stay at the residence of Pakistan’s ambassador in the US.