ISLAMABAD: Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information, said on Friday the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was the country’s only political party which respected democratic traditions.

Speaking to the media, she said the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party had not only ignored the masses when they were in power but also deceived them politically.

Speaking about the PTI foreign funding case, she said the Election Com­mission should initiate hearing on applications filed by the PTI against the PML-N and the PPP regarding their foreign funding.

Ms Awan said the opposition’s Rehbar Committee “has become a Rehzan (dacoits) committee as its members are protecting one another’s political agenda”.

She expressed the hope that Nawaz Sharif would return home after his medical treatment in London, adding that the government had always respected the judiciary.

Ms Awan said the Indian government had deprived the oppressed people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir of their basic rights. “Under Indian state terrorism, large-scale human rights violations, custodial killings and genocide of innocent Kashmiri people are going on in the valley.”

She urged the world to press India to stop its brutalities and resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations resolutions. “The people of India-held Kashmir will soon see the dawn of freedom.”

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2019