Election after completion of govt term: Marriyum Aurangzeb

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb made it clear on Friday that general elections will be held after completion of the government’s term.

Speaking at a news conference, the minister said that election is the right of the people and it will be held but there will be no RTS breakdown this time. She said there will be a clean and transparent election and ballot boxes and the ECP staff will not be taken away like the Daska by-poll.

The minister castigated the ex-prime minister and his style of governance, claiming during his rule 20 million people had fallen below the poverty line whereas six million others were rendered unemployed.

Referring to the PTI’s rally in Lahore, Marriyum said that the same old speech was made in what she called an ‘Imrani Circus’ and added the only difference between these speeches was that sometimes corruption was abused and sometimes the state.

“Attempts have been made to glorify politics in the name of Madinah, sometimes in the name of 'Amr Bil Ma'ruf', sometimes in a democratic way to prove that the no-confidence motion is an external conspiracy. Imran Khan had accused his opponents of corruption but could not prove a single penny of it. He had chanted slogans of the state of Madinah and pushed 20 million people below the poverty line, leaving six million people unemployed. Raised the inflation rate to 16%, the price of flour from Rs35 to Rs90 and the price of sugar from Rs52 to Rs120 per kg,” she said.

The minister said that now he was talking about self-determination while he had sold Kashmir under the slogan of the state of Madinah. “He (Imran) is the same person who was the manager of the political campaign of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and who snatched medicines from the people of Pakistan, the money obtained from the medicine scandal is being spent on public meetings today. This is the same person who had laundered Rs7.3 million in foreign funding. Likewise, Rs25 million in cash was received at Imran’s office that had not been declared,” she alleged.

Marriyum said that the PTI government had crushed the people of Pakistan under debt, adding that during the last four years, Rs43,000 billion had been borrowed. She contended that Imran Khan said ‘correct the mistake’ while he was the one who had attacked the Constitution and parliament. “The people of Pakistan have thrown Imran out through their elected representatives in the National Assembly,” she asserted.

The minister said that Toshakhna was the treasury where Imran had committed a robbery, adding in 41 years Imran Khan’s income had not increased as much as it did between 2018 and 2019. He had retained all the expensive and valuable items for 20% of the amount and then fixed the price of the items in the Toshakhana at 50%.

She noted that the people had given gifts to Imran Khan as the prime minister and he had sold them. Imran Khan should give his money trail and record how he had bought these gifts, she said.

The minister said Imran was supposed to make the Prime Minister’s House a university and go to the office on a bicycle. Instead, she said Imran Khan had used a helicopter. She pointed out the PTI used to say that relations with the establishment had deteriorated; therefore, the government was ousted. “Then what about the conspiracy from abroad. In fact, Imran had lost power because of his misdeeds,” she said.

She contended that Imran Khan had avenged his opponents and imprisoned them, adding that people will not vote for Imran Khan in election. She said that the PMLN government will take Pakistan out of economic difficulties, and make difficult decisions for the relief of the people.