Blocking ads to TV channels exposed PML-N hypocrisy: Farrukh

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Wednesday said the admission of Maryam Safdar about blocking advertisements of leading television channels during her party’s tenure has exposed the PML-N hypocrisy on media freedom.

Maryam has admitted that the audio tape for blocking ads to control media is hers. In what capacity, Maryam was using ads released under public money for protecting her theft and personal interests, the minister said in a tweet.

He said it is the arrogance of the Sharif family that they admit their wrongdoings with pride instead of having any regret. Farrukh Habib charged the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with corrupting the system in the past to cover up its corrupt practices.

The PML-N cannot afford an independent judiciary. It cannot tolerate independent working of institutions as they are people who corrupted the whole system, he said while talking to the media.

Flanked by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill and Parliamentary Secretary Planning Development and Special Initiatives Kanwal Shauzab, the minister said the PMLN has a history of influencing and intimidating the institutions including judiciary for achieving its ulterior motives.

The Sharif family has to submit money trail in court to justify the flats they bought in London by laundering the public money abroad, he added.

He said the PMLN has a history of attacking courts, getting decisions in their favour, doing politics of briefcases and appointing people of their own choice to important official positions. He said it is not the first time that the PML-N is attacking the judiciary.

This is the continuity of their verbal onslaught against the judiciary after the court disqualified Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on their corruption in Panama Leaks. He said the PMLN is playing a drama through audio and video clips for political asylum of Nawaz Sharif in London. Audio and video clips are coming in the country but the receipts of flats are not being presented before courts, he stated.