Daily Times

Defending the appointment of Dr Atif R Mian as a member of the newly reconstituted Economic Advisory Council (EAC), Information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said that Pakistan belongs to minorities as much as it belongs to others.

The appointment of Dr Atif was opposed by some individuals and groups, including Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which objected to his Ahmadi faith.

A social media smear campaign also erupted against the economist’s appointment, with many calling for his removal.

During a press talk in Islamabad, Chaudhry asked: “Should there be restrictions imposed on minorities in Pakistan? Should minorities in Pakistan be thrown out?”

“What kind of people say things like this?” Chaudhry wondered. “This is a man who the entire world is saying will receive a Nobel Peace Prize in the next five years. He has been appointed to the EAC, not the Council of Islamic Ideology or something else.” “No one should have any problem with the appointment of any minority,” Chaudhry asserted.

Moreover, the information minister upheld that protecting members of the minority communities is “not just the job of the government but also the religious right of every Muslim”.

“Those opposing the appointment are fundamentally extremists,” he maintained.

“We should not bow down to extremists,” Chaudhry further stressed.

He also took to Twitter so share a message: “Quaid-i- Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah appointed Sir Zafar Ullah as Foreign minister of Pakistan; we’ll follow principles of Mr Jinnah, not of extremists.”

Separatley, the inforamtion minister said that the army and the civilian government were on the same page.

“The government has complete backing of the Pakistan Army. Anything that the government says, the army will back us,” he said while speaking to an Indian news channel when asked about the civil-military ties.

Responding to another question, he said that Islamabad wants to see lasting peace in Afghanistan. The information minister said that both sides needed to move forward.

Published in Daily Times, September 5^th 2018.