PMLQ reservations largely addressed: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Friday said all government allies would formally declare their trust in Prime Minister Imran Khan before the no-confidence motion of the opposition was taken up, and with that the whole atmosphere would fizzle out.

The minister was having media talk, following his meeting here with Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PMLQ) leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. Fawad said that the reservations of PMLQ have largely been addressed and the minor issues would also be resolved and all the allied parties would formally announce full confidence in the prime minister before convening of the National Assembly session for no-confidence motion.

“We want the political uncertainty to end before that. I hope that a formal declaration of confidence in the prime minister by the allies will be made soon,” he emphasised. He said that the PMLQ and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were allies and they had similar thinking. He said “if we talk to Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, we will also talk about political issues: prime minister has addressed a public gathering in Lower Dir and we have also talked about that”.

Asked about the Punjab government status, the minister said that all concerned would be satisfied and decisions would be taken with consensus. Regarding PTI leader Aleem Khan's much-talked-about meeting with Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Quaid and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in London, the minister pointed out that Aleem Khan's spokesman denied the happening “and we understand that they are part of the PTI and they will make the same decisions that the PTI will make”.

He said that there was no issue of army and the army and government were not different, and the army was constitutionally part of the administration. To another question, he said “we are having meetings with the allies; the current activities are not only related to the no-confidence motion but also related to the local bodies elections before 2023”.

Fawad said the PTI had requested Chaudhry Pervaiz for mediation with reference to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and improving Pakistan Media Development Authority and other laws and he talked with him also in that regard.

He said “Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi also talked to the newspaper owners today and now he has talked to us; we are moving forward in a coordinated manner”. He added he was also talking to the Attorney General for Pakistan in that regard that the court should allow the decision to be taken at the political forum; that was not a judicial matter, he added.

The minister said that it was not possible for the government to formulate a policy and a judge should sit on it, and say that his opinion should be different and it should be made part of it; obviously the policy decisions should be made by the government.

Fawad said that such decisions should be made politically and not judicially as the law-making was the job of parliament, legislature and government and its implementation was the job of the court; the court should do what is within its jurisdiction.

He said the current atmosphere should end and it was also important because some 40 foreign ministers and about 200 delegations were coming to attend the March 23 meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Earlier, ministers Fawad Chaudhry and Farrukh Habib met Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Federal Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi at their residence. The issues related to Media Joint Action Committee were discussed in detail. Prime Minister Imran Khan, during his Lahore visit last month, had given the task to Ch Pervaiz Elahi to resolve the issues between the media houses and the government regarding the Peca Ordinance.

Meanwhile, taking to his twitter handle, Fawad Ch said that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) goons apologised and ran off, but they should not have been allowed to leave. He said that the incident once again exposed the fake intellectuals who, in hatred of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, supported the JUIF goons. He said a mafia had united to protect their interests.

In another tweet on Friday, the information minister questioned the silence of opposition leadership over the induction of a new squadron in the Pakistan Air Force.

He noted that after 40 years, the Air Force had formed a new squadron and that addition of modern aircraft had ended advantage of inclusion of Rafale aircraft in India's fleet. “But have you ever heard a statement from any opposition leader, who falsely expressed happiness over this development,” the minister asked.