ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Monday shed light on the relationship between the civil and military leaderships and said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed held a routine meeting today as they often hold meetings.
“All the matters have been resolved,” he said in a media talk.
Talking about the opposition parties, he said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman should start a ‘rent a crowd’ service for political parties as his ‘political career has completely ended’.
“Maulana Sahab is nothing more than Chla Hua Kartoos (fired cartridge),” he said while chiding Fazlur Rehman over bringing the students of different seminaries at the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) public meeting in Faisalabad.
The minister said Fazlur Rehman has already been used for crowding political gatherings in the past and now he has no importance in political arena.
The JUI-F chief just wants to be politically relevant by making non-serious statements, Fawad said in response to a query.
The nation does not take serious those who always indulge in political gimmicks, he said while referring to undue criticism of the government by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leaders, including Ahsan Iqbal and Shehbaz Sharif.
The opposition is left with no option, but to cry foul all the time, he said while pointing to their constant practice of looking for excuses to protest against the government.
He said prices of different commodities including wheat flour have been brought down, while a visible reduction in sugar price is also being expected due to bumper crops of the sugarcane.
The price of wheat flour is only high in Sindh due to delay on the part of provincial government for its release, he said, adding from today, the Sindh government has started releasing the commodity and it is being hoped that its prices would decline soon in the province.
“We are not living on another planet. If the price of [crude] oil will go up across the world, it will also go upward in Pakistan and if there will be a decline in its prices [globally], the same will happen in Pakistan as well,” he stressed.
The minister asked the opposition leaders to come forward and hold discussion with the government if they have any worthwhile solution to the problem of global hike in the petroleum prices.
He regretted that the opposition boycotted the National Assembly proceedings today despite knowing that the day was dedicated to have speeches on Seerat-un-Nabi. “There should be limitations for everything and there is no need to do politics on everything,” he added.
He said the opposition always looked for an excuse to hold protest [against the government]. They were thinking that there were some differences between the government and security institutions but now their euphoria is gradually fading away, he added.
He said the opposition always talked about democratic credentials but they have no such things in their account rather to always seek a deal to evade accountability.
Fawad said the opposition leaders quickly get ready with their curriculum vitae to jump on the bandwagon once they assume that there are differences between the government and the state institutions. But, when they came to know that they were not going to get any relief in their corruption cases from the government, their guns suddenly turned towards the state institutions.
Basically, the opposition, he said, is not only devoid of political thinking, but also lacks administrative and economic policies.
The opposition could not come into power by criticising Prime Minister Imran Khan all along, rather they should do some introspection and revise their policies.
He once again invited the opposition to work with the government for bringing reforms including the electoral ones.
The minister ruled out possibility of having any discussion with the opposition on their corruption cases.
To a query, he said there are multiple commodities including wheat and electricity on which subsidy is being given. “The entire country cannot be run on subsidy.”
