PTI to clean sweep by-election: Fawad Chaudhry

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Saturday said that PTI would clean sweep the October 14 by-polls.

“PTI will win all the seats, vacated either by its candidates or those of other parties, with the public support,” Chaudhry told media persons.

Rejecting the allegations of political manipulation, the minister said the PML-N while in power had never conducted free and fair elections in its political history.

The July 25 general election were the first free and fair polls conducted during the recent past, he added.

He said that government was also optimistic about building five million residential units for the people during its tenure.

The detractors of Imran Khan had always remained skeptical that he would never become prime minister or set up Shaukat Khaunum Memorial Hospital and Namal University, but he achieved the impossible, he said, adding the PTI government would provide shelter to the homeless by utilizing all the resources at its disposal.

The minister was talking to media persons after attending a session on ''Justice for Empowerment'' during Asma Jahangir Conference 2018 here at a hotel.

To a question, Fawad said corruption was the only threat to democracy and his party had waged a war against the menace.

The roots of the current financial crisis were sown by senseless borrowing by the former rulers during the past 10 years.

The government would not spare the ''dacoits'', who had looted the national wealth, he added.

"I have submitted a resolution in the National Assembly for the constitution of a parliamentary committee to determine the accused among the former rulers, who raised the country's foreign debts from Rs 6,000 billion to Rs 30,000 billion during the past 10 years," he said, adding the committee should submit its findings in one month and the responsible should be declared ''national culprits''.

To another query, Fawad said the PTI government did not want to pick up the ''begging bowl'', but the bad policies of the previous regimes had entrapped the country in the economic crisis.

The PTI government did not need loans as it had slashed the expenses of the Prime Minister''s House, chief minister houses and the governor houses to mere 10 per cent of the previous expenditures, he added.

Citing the reasons for the proposed International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package, he said the government was forced to approach the world lending body and friendly countries for the financial assistance as the country had to repay $8 billion loans this year.were never to be paid back.