KARACHI, July 3: Federal minister for information and media development, Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, has warned the opposition parties against stretching the matters to point of no return.
“The situation demands that issues should be resolved instead of their further complications”, he added.
The minister, who was responding to questions at a local hotel on Thursday, was commenting on the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal’s call for demonstrations on Friday, through out the country, to mobilise the people.
He said that the ruling of an election tribunal against an MMA legislator from Kohat, Mufti Abrar, regarding his degree from a Madarssah, was a legal decision which had nothing to do with the government.
However, he agreed, that the ruling might have consequences for members of the Senate, National Assembly, and the NWFP assembly as well.
When his attention was drawn towards members of the ruling coalition, including Sindh chief minister, the minister said it was a legal issue and any one who would fall in line had to go.
When asked about any future political crisis in case of en-bloc MMA resignations from their seats in assemblies and Senate, the minister said the crisis was already there.
They (Opposition) did not accept the LFO, they did not recognize speaker or deputy speaker and even the president, he said, adding if they tendered their resignations we would go for byelections.
Shaikh Rashid said that as far as government was concerned, it wanted to resolve issues through talks before the matters were pushed to the wall leaving no possibility to pull back.
The minister said in fact there was no politics of the PPP or PML(N) in the country, they were striving to keep themselves alive by creating political turmoil in the country and they were using the MMA in their strategy.
Regarding normalization of ties with India, the minister said that the matter was not being delayed from our side but due to slow response from India. “We want to solve all problems, including the Kashmir issue, as it can not be sidelined”, he pointed out and said” the ground realities in the region led him to the conclusion that the kashmir issue would be solved with in next three years.
He denied receiving any request to send Pakistani troops to Afghanistan. However, he said, a request for Iraq was under consideration and no final decision had been taken so far.
To another question he said there was no threat to the government from women of Sharif family, nor they were indulging in politics but it was the matter of principle that they were allowed to stay in the country for two weeks and their request for extension was also conceded two times but as they continued to stretch their stay longer, they were asked to leave.
He said that to be sent abroad was Sharif family’s choice as they wanted to go abroad.
He termed president’s visit to the US, Germany and France a big success which helped in promoting positive image of Pakistan abroad.
When asked why neither he nor the foreign minister was taken abroad by the president? The minister said they were in the country to work out strategy to meet the follow up developments of national budget and no confidence motion against the speaker.
In his opening statement the minister asked why the PPP was taking different stand regarding greater Thal canal in Sindh and Punjab? Why misunderstandings were created on the issue? he asked.
When his attention was drawn that the PPP alone could not be accused of this policy, as the ruling PML(Q) and its coalition member, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were part of the resolution adopted by the Sindh Assembly, with consensus, against construction of Thal canal, the minister expressed his ignorance about any such resolution and said that instead of joining hands with opponents of the canal there was need to apprise them of the ground realities and take them all along.
