GUJRAT: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Chaudhry says former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani are living the life of absconders, one in London and the other in Dubai.

He says all the political leaders who are not connected with their people and soil are destined to live such a life.

“Both Nawaz Sharif and Ashraf Ghani have fled abroad with bags of US dollars,” Mr Chaudhry said while talking to the media at his hometown of Jhelum on Saturday.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan always represented the sentiments of the people of Pakistan on the issues like Afghanistan and Kashmir, the transfer of wealth looted from the poor countries to rich countries and the environment.

“While addressing the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Imran Khan challenged Narendra Modi on the issue of Kashmir before the UN, which has never happened before in Pakistan,” he said.

Says both ‘absconding leaders’ fled with bags of US dollars

The minister recalled that when Kulbhushan Jhadav, a serving Indian military officer, was arrested in Balochistan, Nawaz had refused to comment on it.

Continuing with his bashing of the former PM, Mr Chaudhry said Nawaz never did any constructive work and looted the national wealth and invited Indian PM Narendra Modi to weddings.

The minister predicted that the PTI would form a government with two-thirds majority in next election as the PML-N and the PPP were divided and no one (politician) was interested to get their tickets.

Bilawal Bhutto, he alleged, during his recent visit to South Punjab, had offered Rs50m to the people to contest elections on the PPP ticket.

He taunted the PML-N leadership, saying Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were taking turns to lead the party on a weekly basis through a toss.

To a question, Mr Chaudhry said the issues with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were on the path of resolution and added that the PTI had no problem with the chief election commissioner.

He ruled out consultation with Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif on appointment of the chairman National Accountability Bureau as he (Shehbaz) himself was an accused in the NAB cases.

On the cancellation of the English cricket team’s tour, he said the English players had started giving clarifications while their PM expressed his displeasure at the cancelation of the tour, which was a success of Pakistan’s diplomacy.

The minister said ground-breaking of the Kharian-Rawalpindi motorway section would likely be done in November and the section would reduce travel time between Rawalpindi and Lahore by one hour. He said millions of people in Sohawa, Chakwal, Dina, Jhelum, Gujjar Khan, Lalamusa, Wazirabad and adjacent areas would be its beneficiary.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2021