LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said that the united opposition has disintegrated due to internal rifts in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as well as in the Pakistan Peoples Party.

“The marriage of convenience could not last long,” said Mr Chaudhry while speaking to media persons here on Saturday.

He said PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had already handed over his party to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif whereas PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz had given her party to Mr Bhutto-Zardari. “We wanted that the PML-N and PPP’s watta satta should stay intact but their internal conflicts led the Pakistan Democratic Movement member parties to run in different directions,” he added.

Mr Chaudhry also chided PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and said the ‘knot’ he had tied could not last long. He said the Maulana should better focus on Nikah ceremonies instead of politics, which was no more his ballgame.

Suggests to ECP to use e-voting machines in upcoming AJK elections to ascertain their authenticity

The information minister said the government wanted better working relationship with the opposition parties and was looking for the resolution of alleged conflicts between Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz in the PML-N as well as between Mr Bhutto-Zardari and Ms Faryal Talpur so that both major opposition parties could set their directions.

He reiterated that the government always wanted to enter into a dialogue with the opposition to develop consensus on reforms to “revamp the Election Commission of Pakistan and the judiciary”.

Mr Chaudhry asserted it was government’s mandate to take policy decisions and the ECP was only an implementing body.

He said a delegation of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) would meet the Election Commissioner next Wednesday with regard to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in order to ensure holding of free, fair and transparent elections. He said the ECP’s technical member was already part of the committee that was overseeing the EVMs’ working.

“The ECP should use EVMs in the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections to ascertain their authenticity,” he suggested.

The minister said he would also offer this technology to associations of journalists and lawyers for holding their annual elections.

Answering a question about Jahangir Khan Tareen group’s reservations over delay in making Barrister Ali Zafar’s report public with regard to the allegations and investigations against Mr Tareen, the information minister said all the group’s members were united under Imran Khan’s leadership. They all should rest assured that Mr Khan would not let injustice happen in the case lodged against Mr Tareen, he said.

The prime minister would ensure justice whether Barrister Zafar’s report would be in favour of Mr Tareen or against him, he said.

Mr Chaudhry also sounded confident that the PTI government would get its people-friendly and welfare budgets passed in the national as well as Punjab assemblies. He said all allied parties had assured that they would be standing with the ruling party to get the budgets passed.

He expressed the hope that all PTI members, including the Tareen group, would vote for the budgets.

The minister said the PPP and PML-N’s successive governments destroyed country’s economy, but the PTI had steered the country out of economic depression and put it back on the path to progress. While the entire world was combating the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan managed to stabilise its economy, he said, adding that India was facing around -7.3 depression in its economy.

Mr Chaudhry said the upcoming budget for the next financial year would represent the PTI government’s performance during the past three years. He said the budget would help relieve people from their financial constraints, as the salaried class would be given relief. He said that price hike would be controlled and the public would feel the relief.

Referring to PPP leader Khurshid Shah’s statement that the PTI government committed excesses by putting him behind bars for the past two years, Mr Chaudhry remarked that he should languish in jail for the next 150 years as he had ruined all the state institutions.

By making hundreds of appointments on political grounds, state institutions including PTV, Pakistan Steel Mills and PIA were devastated, he said. In PTV alone, he added, some 2,200 appointments were made and less than five per cent of those employees were recruited on merit during 2008-18.

Answering a question, Mr Chaudhry said Pakistan had more press freedom than even the countries of the first world.

He said only India was propagating fake and false news against Pakistan, because the latter caught and blocked some 825 websites being run from there.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2021