Daily Times

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan before the end of 2022.

While addressing the National Assembly, the defence minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protests had violated people’s rights, adding that everyone had the right to protest but the limits of the Constitution and law should not be crossed.

He said that no development work was done during the past four years under the PTI government, and the incumbent government had explained these circumstances to the people.

Asif also said that the government withdrew money from other sectors and gave it to the flood victims who were undergoing great difficulties due to cold winter nights.

The minister maintained that the federal and provincial governments should provide assistance to disaster victims without discrimination and that the government was not acting on political priorities.

Meanwhile, Khawaja Asif said flood victims should be compensated timely and without any prejudice.

Responding to a point of order on the floor of the National Assembly, he made it clear that neither the federal nor the provincial governments were distributing flood relief goods on the basis of party affiliation.

The minister said if there was any sort of distinction in some areas, it should be sorted out on priority adding that he would bring the matter into the limelight of the federal cabinet to address the grievances of the respective colleague of the house.

He also mentioned that because of the winter season, it would be quite difficult for the flood victims to spend nights under the open sky.

He said it was the responsibility of the government to provide them shelter before the temperature reaches freezing point.

The government also had given a package for farmers, particularly in those areas which were severely affected by the monsoon rains and flash floods.

He said the government had very limited resources but despite that, it was financially stretching other institutions to provide relief to the flood-affected people.

The minister also lamented that it was the flaw of our political culture that the candidate of the winning party was provided the funds for development schemes while the candidate of the opposition party was not entertained equally.

He said he had experienced this biased practice during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government which did not provide even a single penny to the members of opposition benches because of that the people of their constituencies were deprived of the development work.

He said this political flaw should be eliminated and every member of this august house should be treated equally.

Meanwhile, Hashim Notezai of Balochistan National Party proposed that the government should provide timely compensation to the farmers.

He said the farmers should be given leverage in case of electricity bills and they should be facilitated by solar panels to meet their electricity needs.

He said the flood-affected people should be provided cash so that they could build their houses as early as possible.

On this occasion, Ghous Bakhsh Mahar of the Grand Democratic Alliance expressed his grievances on the delay in providing relief to the people affected by the monsoon rains and flash floods, particularly in Sindh.

He said the government had announced a Rs 5,000 subsidy per acre to the farmers but they had not paid yet.

He pointed out that the people were forced to live miserable life under the open sky.

He urged the government to release funds to the flood victims as soon as possible so that they could arrange something for their shelter, especially in this extreme winter season.