PM took notice of Asim’s arrest before Zardari’s statement, says minister

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on Monday Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had already sought a report on the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain even before the issuance of the statement of Asif Ali Zardari and the report would be received soon. He hoped that after his media talk, the misunderstandings with the PPP would end.
He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) did not believe in politics of victimisation. Now, the minister said, nobody could think of doing politics of victimisation as the judiciary was independent.
Talking to the media, he said, “The word ‘victimisation’ has no existence in the political dictionary of the PM. The politics of 90s has been buried forever and it will remain so.”
About the arrest of some people by the Rangers, the minister said investigations were being carried out and whoever was innocent will return home.
He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto buried the politics of 90s under the Charter of Democracy. He said that there was no political victimisation in the country. He claimed that his political party showed complete conformity to the Charter of Democracy signed between the PML-N and PPP.
Responding to a recent statement of Asif Ali Zardari, the minister said that Zardari was enjoying the respect of a former president and co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party. However, he said, Zardari’s statement might be the result of a misunderstanding as PML-N neither did the politics of victimisation, nor was doing it and also would not do in future.
Pervaiz Rashid expressed the hope that the time would prove that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had never indulged in politics of victimisation, and Asif Zardari would realise it soon.
Replying to a question, Pervaiz Rashid said all cases were in the courts and the government had instituted no new case against any politician. The government after assuming power never filed cases against anybody, he added.
To a question, the minister said that it was the beauty of democratic process that the elected government was bound to face the opposition’s criticism patiently. The government had tolerated the harsh language of the opposition with patience for six months.
Commenting on the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb and Karachi operations, he said it was a ‘collective decision’ of the nation, and “we all are with the Pakistan Army.”
To a question about Imran Khan’s recent demand of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members’ resignations, the minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief wanted to flee from the by-elections after the PML-N announced to go to people’s court.
Pervaiz Rashid said the PTI chief was in the habit of leveling baseless allegations and kept changing his targets; sometimes he targets former chief justice (retd) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, former Supreme Court Justice (retd) Khalil Ramday, former caretaker chief minister Najam Sethi and sometimes a section of the media and now the ECP members.