Fawad Chaudhry says seven defectors are back

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain claimed on Saturday that seven defecting members had returned to the party and “we hope that the allies will also decide [in the government favour] in a few days, or 24 hours”.

Fawad Chaudhry, along with Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, was talking to the media after PTI’s consultative meeting at Bani Gala. He said Pervez Khattak and he had also talked to Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) group and “they have assured us that the final decision will be taken in consultation with us”.

Fawad remarked, “I have already said that we have the chess, we have the tricks and we have the future. They (opposition) do not know where to go; they do not know that Imran Khan's popularity has increased. Now we want the (assembly) meeting to be convened as soon as possible so that this issue can be resolved and we can focus on the national economy again”.

However, about the PTI workers smashing gate of the Sindh House and agitating inside, the minister said, “I want to send a message to all the people of PTI that protest is our right, but we should not resort to violence”.

The minister contended that the government was going nowhere before, nor is going anywhere now, and will not go anywhere after that. “We appreciate the peaceful protest that took place all over Pakistan yesterday, commanding good and forbidding evil is the foundation of our society; therefore, Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided that the title of our meeting in D-Chowk should be ‘goodness will be inculcated’,” he said.

About PTI MNA Najeeb Haroon, who proposed changing the leader of the House in the assembly for ensuring continuity of the system, Fawad said that Najeeb Haroon should talk according to his political worth; what is PTI in case of minus Imran Khan?

He said that the today's meeting thanked Hammad Azhar for making electricity cheaper by Rs5 per unit. Energy Minister Hammad Azhar said that some of the estranged members were the people who had realised their mistake and they were now contacting the party again, before voting against Imran Khan: “Our doors are open for them. In the days to come, you will see that we will thwart the no-confidence motion and Imran Khan will emerge as a stronger leader than ever before”.

While referring to the opposition, he said that the same people who had passed the law of floor crossing are now opposing it. He also contended that they were only in favour of peaceful protests. If the people are protesting peacefully to hold the deviant members to account, it is a sign of the survival of the nation.

Earlier, during media talk, Fawad said that the opposition should not try to remove Imran Khan in an undemocratic way and should run its own politics. In a reconciliatory mode, the minister said that all the issues should be discussed. “I had said before that it should not create so much bitterness that it would be difficult to sit together. The bitterness is increasing which should be reduced,” he noted.

He said the police personnel are guarding the dissident members. “One or two people even called us and told us that we are not being allowed out.” He added that the brother of one of the dissident members of PTI called and said that “our brother is imprisoned in Sindh House, get him releases from there, they have imposed restrictions there”.

Fawad said that that was not the period of 1985/1988; now whoever would betray Imran Khan, would be disgraced and he would not be respected at all. Replying to questions, the minister said that there would be no confrontation with the opposition on holding of public meetings in the federal capital and remarked, “we are holding our own public meeting and the opposition would have its own, which is a fundamental right in the Constitution”.

When asked were the government and the army on one page, the minister replied, “all are on one page”. To another question, he said there was an impression that Imran Khan was the target of an international conspiracy and God willing, we will rectify things.

The minister said that after resigning from the assembly, the dissidents could vote for whoever they wanted after being elected again; “but it is not possible for you to get votes in the name of Imran Khan and then start selling yourself.

“I still want to say that the door of repentance would always remain open. If anyone thinks that Imran Khan can be blackmailed, then remove this misconception, Imran Khan will not be blackmailed by anyone,” he made it clear. He emphasised that PTI had not issued any orders for what happened in Sindh House and such an incident should not have happened, but they were themselves responsible for that.