ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broa­dcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said the opposition is trying to destabilise the country with its narrative only to benefit the enemies.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, he said the opposition leaders had stooped too low only to protect their personal interests by directly attacking the institutions with the aim of creating divisions among various branches of the state.

Senator Faraz said the speech of former speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq caused anger and grief among the public because he criticised the army and the air force and gave a chance to the Indian media to use “his incorrect and false remarks to damage Pakistan”.

Read | I stand by my stance, have never made irresponsible statements: Ayaz Sadiq

He recalled such remarks made since 2016 and referred to the speeches at recent public meetings of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) and the incident of “disrespecting” of Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum by retired Capt Muhammad Safdar.

Pakistan could not make progress during, what he said, the 40-year-rule of the opposition parties but their leaders expanded their businesses and now they were working against Pakistan while sitting in London.

Says a country can be broken up if armed forces get demoralised

“During his rule Nawaz Sharif gave an impression that business should be done with India while putting aside other important national issues because it was in his interest. Nawaz has no future in politics as he has been convicted and is wanted by court.”

A leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl “Hafiz Hussain Ahmed gave a clear statement which showed that there is a difference of opinion in the JUI-F”, he noted.

Senator Faraz said a country could be broken up by demoralising its armed forces and gave examples of Libya, Syria and Afghan­istan where such methods were used to create chaos and destruction, “but such tactics will fail in Pakistan as it is a nuclear power, its system and state structures are stable and capable to thwart any aggression”.

He advised the “saner elements” in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to form a “local chapter” of their party such as “PML-Pakistan”, as has been done by members of another party.

The minister said Pakistan defeated Indian designs when its aircraft tried to intrude deep into Pakistani airspace for an attack. India’s failure to fully attack Pakistan exposed inefficiency and incapability of the Indian forces, but Ayaz Sadiq tried to distort history only to benefit New Delhi.

Several clips of Indian media were shown at the news conference, all referring to the speech of Sadiq while one Indian channel even stated that the Pakistani army chief was so worried that he was precipitating all over.

He said such anti-state statements would not be tolerated and the official law teams were working to devise a legal course against the opposition leaders.

He said while the PDM leaders did not condemn the objectionable statements of some of their associates, but Senator Ataur Rehman even came to defend them.

Senator Faraz said: “Maryam Safdar, Bilawal and Maulana Fazlur Rehman made statements which did not serve the interest of the country.”

He said opposition leaders were trying to be revolutionary by remembering poets like Ahmed Faraz and Habib Jalib, but they did not give them due respect when they were alive.

The minister said the PML-N did not have a history of political struggle, instead they were known for introducing corrupt ways in politics such as giving keys of BMW to a former army chief, promoting their favourite judges, etc.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan struggled for 22 years and then he got the people’s mandate to form the government,” he said.

Senator Faraz said the people would punish the vagabonds in the opposition.

The Pakistan Peoples Party had ruined Sindh and now it was promising to turn the Northern Areas into a paradise.

In reply to a question, the minister said the priority of the government was to ensure stability and progress in the country.

He said Mr Khan’s stance was clear that he was ready to talk to the opposition on all issues but he would not give them an ‘NRO’.

In reply to another question, he said the government had no intention to ban the PDM.

The minister expressed sympathy with the victims of earthquake in Turkey.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2020