Kaira slams Imran’s telethon, asks him to be in field

LALAMUSA: Prime Minister’s Adviser on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira has said a so-called telethon has been held by Imran Khan through which five billion rupees are claimed to have been collected.

Talking to media here on Wednesday, he said: “We have to understand that commitments made in telethons are only announcements. Nevertheless, we appreciate this positive effort of Imran Khan, but he should come to the field. There was damage due to floods in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa too, but Imran does not have time to share the grief of flood victims.” He pointed out that Fawad Chaudhry had said: “We will not accept conditions and cooperate with the government before Shaukat Tarin’s conversation was leaked.” He said a PTI MNA gave an interview to the BBC and said that “international aid is being manipulated, so international aid should not be received”.

Kaira said which aid was being manipulated? Attempting to block aid by spreading negative propaganda about the process in advance was reprehensible. This was an attack on Pakistan. “We are not among those who distribute certificates of treachery, but what do we call the actions of these people? Is it the loss of Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto or Maulana Fazlur Rehman? This is an attack on Pakistan.”

He said: “Many NGOs are helping us. We are grateful to all countries for helping us. We pledge that we will not leave anyone alone in this difficult time.” He pointed out that Imran Khan said the law should be the same for everyone. “We also say that decisions should be the same for everyone. Today again one of his ministers has said that there are conspiracies to disqualify Imran Khan. If Imran Khan is disqualified, people will decide and everyone will suffer.” If Imran Khan was disqualified, who would suffer? Were they saying that courts would bear the consequences? Kaira said, adding that the government took very difficult decisions to get the country out of crises.

“We were told that you are wasting your political capital, your reputation is deteriorating and people are getting angry with you. We were aware of our political loss but still took these decisions so that Pakistan does not suffer. Undoubtedly, our decisions increased hardships for people, but they did not protest against them. People didn’t protest because they knew that there was no other way to save the country but to take tough decisions. At this time, it is not possible to estimate exactly how much damage has been done, how many roads have been broken and how many houses have been destroyed as almost all the mud houses in Sindh and Balochistan have been washed away. The damage can be assessed by accessing these areas only after the water recedes,” he said.