PM Imran Khan alone is enough to confront Opposition: Shibli Faraz

DASKA:  The Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz on Sunday said that despite all of the Opposition parties coming together, Prime Minister Imran Khan alone is enough to confront them.

He was speaking during his visit to Daska, along with other PTI leaders, to extend condolences to the family of the PTI worker who was killed after chaos erupted at the NA-75 constituency on Friday, February 19.

Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Punjab CM's aide Firdous Ashiq Awan, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar were among those who offered condolences.

Addressing a press conference after visiting the family of the deceased worker, Shibli Faraz said that the "PML-N has been pursuing a policy of bullying and murder."

"In the past, women and children were shot at in Model Town, Lahore, and the main character of the tragedy was Rana Sanaullah, who also harassed people in the by-elections," Faraz said.

"Those who won in 2018's general elections by a margin of 40,000 votes have lost in these by-elections," he added.

Taking a jibe at PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, who also visited Daska earlier on Sunday, Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the "fake princess" called the by-elections "a war" and called the killer on the stage to hurt the sentiments of the deceased worker's family.

Awan went on to say that the PML-N has "always patronised drug dealers and occupation mafia."

On the other hand, Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that he wishes to see Maryam Nawaz speaking the truth at least once, adding that she always lies about having no property in London or even in Pakistan.

He said that the PTI will abide by the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), adding that the Punjab government has been "completely neutral in the elections".

"Our candidate Ali Asjad Malhi has clearly won from NA-75 and once the official results are announced, we will be here to celebrate his victory," Chaudhry said. "We want the voting to be electronically conducted so that the vote can be traced [and not rigged]."

He said that the ministry of technology has developed a system for electronic voting which would be transferred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) soon.

"We lost elections in Karachi and Nowshera but have not raised any allegation of rigging and accepted the results," he said. "This is the real difference between a democratic party and a non-democratic party which was fostered in the lap of a dictator."