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Thursday March 28, 2024

Rejecting APC, govt warns of action against law breakers

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan rejected outright the opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC) joint declaration, calling it their confessional statement on their failures and incapability over the years, having brought Pakistan to this position.

By Monitoring Desk & Our Correspondent
June 27, 2019

ISLAMABAD: The government has not given importance to the opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC)and said that action will be taken against those who break the law.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan rejected outright the opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC) joint declaration, calling it their confessional statement on their failures and incapability over the years, having brought Pakistan to this position.

Speaking here at a hurriedly called news conference in response to the opposition parties marathon meeting, she also rejected their Rehbar Committee and asserted that a rehbar could never be a looter, criminal and a money launderer, who would loot the people’s money, national resources and transfer it abroad for their children’s business.

The special assistant to PM alleged that 99.99 percent members of the committee were tainted with corruption and the opposition’s survival hinges on the menace of corruption. “APC, which continued for ten hours, failed to agree on a narrative. Those who talked of removal of the government, hurling threats, felt insecure by one another. The prime objective of convening the APC was to reject the Commission of Inquiry,” she claimed.

She pointed out that the each every sentence of the declaration ended with the term ‘will’, which indicated they lacked cohesion and coordination and left everything to the coming times. She added political actors had huddled at the APC and there was a puppet show there. “To sight moon of rule is not in the fate of opposition and the government will not go home through backdoor, conspiracy and lamentation,” she asserted.

The opposition, she noted, first of all, expressed no-confidence in the Election Commission of Pakistan and hence after ten months, all of a sudden, they talked about poll rigging after having firm belief that now there would be supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law in Pakistan and the noose of accountability, reaching their throats.

“Their silence at the parliamentary committee meetings on elections was quite meaningful. And the Chief Election Commissioner, its members and provincial election commissioners were not appointed by PTI but by then government and opposition,” she maintained.

The special assistant added that if the opposition had no-confidence in the elections, then it meant it also included Sindh assembly and this indicated that elections were fine, where opposition parties posted victories and they were rigged, where they faced defeat.

She also said that in the entire joint declaration, only one term was missing and it was corruption. She wished the opposition would have had come up with a strategy or a plan on how to eliminate it but it showed for them this menace was not bad.

Referring to the opposition’s term of ‘selected’ for the Prime Minister, she said that Imran Khan was first elected as member of the assembly, then was given votes to be elected as leader of the House and then mandated to become Prime Minister by the House.

She insisted that the opposition talked of ‘selected’; there should be mention of a life-time rejected person and then a defected one. Dr Awan lamented that the incumbent government was blamed for every issue, might it be on the economic, political or social front but people knew well that the government was forced to borrow to pay back interests on the massive loans, these two political parties (PPP and PML-N) had obtained borrowed, whereas Rs. 3000 billion were to be paid to the lending agencies shortly.

She blamed these massive payments for pressure on the rupee, which caused dollar to further go up. Turning her guns towards Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI-Fazl, she retorted that when the Maulana was away from the corridors of power, then the government and the Parliament was totally unacceptable and he wanted them to pack up.

“This makes it very clear that those, who have themselves given the task of religion are responsible for social degradation and it indicates that the religion is not in safe hands,” she asserted.

She emphasised that the budget would be passed by the National Assembly and the opposition would continue on the ‘same salary’.

In an obvious reference to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice-President Maryam Safdar, she said that the nation would not hand over Pakistan to ‘political kids’ for running it according to their whims.

She contended that political legacy could not be transferred on the basis of a death statement but on the basis of merit and struggle. About the APC decision to bring no-confidence motion against Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman, she reminded the opposition that both were elected by their own votes, adding the opposition’s proposed movement to topple the government had been reduced now to removal of Senate chairman.

Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed termed the APC of the opposition parties as ‘Friday Market’. Sheikh Rasheed addressing to press conference has said that if those who are under probe in criminal cases will lead an anti-government campaign then it will be a conspiracy against the democracy.

He said, “They [Opposition] do not have the ingredients to lead a mass movement.” “I am seeing a dark day ahead for Maulana Fazlur Rehman,” added Minister. “Prime Minister Imran Khan is working for the betterment of the masses and the people will see the result in near future,” he further added.

“Asif Zardari does not want to come out of the jail as he is getting nine-star facilities there,” concluded Rasheed. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Naeem ul Haq said that the opposition came together to attend the APC to get their leadership released from jail.

Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House, he said that opposition was doing politics in the name of its prisoners and was trying to undermine the federal budget 2019-20. Naeemul Haq said that the government would successfully get approval of federal budget 2019-20. He said that the legislation would be undertaken for a code of conduct in National Assembly to stop members from leveling allegations against each other.

The SAPM said that protest was a democratic right of everybody but it should be within the law and if the law would be violated then action against the violators would be taken. He said both sides should criticize each other while remaining within the limits of morality and run proceedings of the House in friendly environment.