No-trust voting: Coming, going saga to continue till last hour, says Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister Information and Broadcasting Fawad Hussain Chaudhry Monday said that all the coalition parties including PMLQ and MQM were part of the government and not the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the ‘saga of coming and leaving’ would go on an hour before voting on the no-trust motion.

Hours after the PTI rally at the Parade Ground, the minister was talking to journalists here at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He emphasised having already said that those who were supporting the no-confidence motion would have to go through one million people, but after Sunday’s public meeting, he would say they had to go through 200 million people.

The minister expressed gratitude to the people who attended Sunday’s meeting and said that the biggest gathering in the history of Pakistan took place in Islamabad and “you saw that on Sunday the gates of Islamabad were shaken.”

Fawad insisted while being part of the conspiracy of no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan, the local political leaders laid out the checkerboard, whose leader is sitting in Mayfair apartment. “This is not against Imran Khan but a conspiracy against the people of Pakistan,” hemaintained. The minister alleged that the no-trust motion was a plan to enslave Pakistan permanently, led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Asif Ali Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif and it was a conspiracy in connivance with the global establishment.

He pointed out that just as Quaid-i-Azam fought a two-sided battle for Pakistan, one fought against the cronies of British people sitting in India and the other fought against the British establishment, so Imran Khan was also fighting against the foreign establishment.

He added the conspiracy was to send packing the Pakistan’s system by buying loyalties of members and the same point was presented by the attorney general before the apex court.

Regarding the presidential reference, the minister explained that on the issues under discussion in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General had made a point that Pakistan is a country with a parliamentary system of government. He added that political parties are an integral part of this system and Article 63A is very important in this regard.

He contended that interpretation of Article 63A was necessary. In order to have a stable parliamentary system in Pakistan, lifelong disqualification should be included in it and penalties should be put in it to eliminate this sale and purchase market of lawmakers.

Fawad said, “We also saw that renegade members were kept in Sindh House but some people stood by Imran Khan after rejecting the big offer.” He was hopeful that the Supreme Court would give a decision to disqualify for life those who deviate after being elected on PTI ticket. They would be able to cast their votes but their votes would not be counted.

To a question, the minister claimed that all the allied parties including PMLQ and MQM were part of the government and not the PTI and whenever a politician got a chance he thought of making himself big. “Yes, there is no objection if the allies have any demands,” he maintained and noted the decision was to be taken by the PTI government keeping in view the related consequences.

He said that Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar would meet the PMLQ, after which there would be consultation within the party and the PTI would make its decision. When asked about the Prime Minister Imran Kan waved to the rally, Fawad said that this letter was not the one that three or four journalists were waving. He insisted that the young journalists should train the experienced journalists how the news was verified, not to post the news on social media straight away.

The minister contended that the Pakistan Army is the guarantor of Pakistan’s integrity and its sovereignty, the army would take whatever decision is in the interest of the country.

Replying to yet another question, the minister said that this was not the first time that PMLN would use judges. The minister referred to a book, written by justice (R) Sajjad Ali Shah in which he wrote about how Rafiq Tarar was used: How the judges were bought and the bags sent to them and first of all, an assault was launched and then the Quetta affair... BMW key chains were given and this was the tradition and history of Nawaz Sharif.

He continued, “We have not said these things as Sajjad Ali Shah has written in his book and it is the habit of PMLN to conspire with institutions. This is a history of Nawaz Sharif.”

Regarding JWP’s Shahzain Bugti, he said that it was not known for whom he was asking for the development budget. He said, “We have to make decisions according to our political principles, contacts in politics do not end, contacts will continue.”

On the occasion, Federal Minister Hammad Azhar said that on Sunday the people announced their decision against buying of conscience of members and those who said what the surprise was. This was the surprise that incumbent prime minister was addressing the largest gathering in the history of the country and telling the people that they had written evidence of an external conspiracy against the government.

He said that the evidence was as good as it was in the national interest and the government would bring it fore and hide what was not better. “The surprise is that Prime Minister Imran Khan has exposed a nexus between the global plot and the local ‘rebels’ and it should open everyone’s eyes,” he said.

The minister said that it was the PMLN tradition to first attack the institutions, attack their credible personalities and make them controversial.