Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Friday said that the statement of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has emerged as a ray of hope.

Dr Firdous said the civil-military leadership is on the same page for the first time in the history of the country for the sake of national development. She said the country’s leadership has to lead the nation in fight against the challenges facing the nation. She went on to say that the nation is going through difficult economic conditions and the country is facing several challenges. “The COAS said in his statement that difficult decisions have to be taken for the country’s betterment,” she said, and added that Prime Minister Imran Khan also took the nation in confidence a day earlier. “The government is determined to put the country’s economy on track,” she added.

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, Dr Firdous Ashiq asked the opposition to think 10 times before bringing motion for replacement of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. She said the result of the motion against the chairman will not be different to what happened to the opposition during the budget. She said the move against the chairman will be tantamount to an attack on the federation, adding the government will take every constitutional step to protect the Senate chairman.

She urged the opposition to cooperate with the government to resolve the economic issues. She said the government is committed to strengthen the parliament according to the aspirations of the people. She said that Pakistan People’s Party government in Sindh should focus to resolve the issues of people, adding that the government successfully countered every move of the opposition during the budget session. She said the opposition should not waste its time and resources and must play role for the betterment of the masses.

To a question about the assets declaration scheme of Prime Minister Imran Khan, she said that final date is June 30 and the government was working to make the amnesty scheme easier. She said politics should not be done on economy as there are many other occasions for doing politics.

Regarding the passage of federal budget 2019-20, she said the government and its allies have passed the budget with majority. She said the passage of federal budget is a good sign as it is aligned with national security and defence. She said it was the longest budget session of the country’s history which continued for over 70 hours.

Dr Firdous said the opposition created hurdles in the approval of budget but the players of Prime Minister Imran Khan in the House defeated all moves of the opposition. She said the approval of federal budget has proved that the representatives of people fully trust the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.