Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday, while terming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) the most corrupt in the history of the country, claimed that there isn’t going to be ‘minus one’ but it’s going to be ‘minus PTI’.

Addressing a press conference at the Parliament Lodges on Thursday, PML-N leader and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is defaming Pakistan due to his ego, adding that it is not the opposition but the rulers themselves who are undermining the government due to their actions. He said that the government’s performance has raised questions on every institution, adding that the PIA plane crash incident caused damaged to Pakistan’s credibility all over the world.

He alleged that the officials in Gilgit Baltistan are being bribed but they cannot allow rigging. “Transparent elections should be held,” the PML-N leader said, adding that they cannot afford anyone’s conflict.

Regarding the tragic incident that took place in occupied valley of Kashmir, Ahsan Iqbal said that an innocent man was martyred by the Indian Army in front of a three-year-old boy, adding that this picture has shaken the whole world. Taking a jibe at the federal government, the former minister went on to say that the lockdown in the occupied valley is about to complete one year but the PTI government could do nothing except making speeches. “People are being slaughtered in Kashmir every day in front of their young children but the government has wasted a year,” he said, and demanded to convene a meeting of the National Assembly on the Kashmir issue. “The prime minister should have telephoned the US president, British prime minister and all members of the UN Security Council to discuss the issue,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the vote is the voice of the conscience and if someone sold his conscience, he will be held accountable before Allah Almighty. Speaking about ban on PIA flights abroad, he said that the license is issued by the Civil Aviation Authority and not the government, adding that this is a matter of employment of 262 pilots and Pakistan’s honour.

Regarding sugar scandal, Abbasi said that sugar was procured by paying more than Rs 8,300 per tonne on the old tender, adding that the Supreme Court should take suo motu notice of the issue while his party will also file a petition. He alleged that there are so many chapters of corruption in the government that they will never end. The sugar problem has been going on in Pakistan for 21 months, he said, adding that sugar is being sold at a price of Rs 85 per kilogram but the government does not care.

PML-N spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb, while terming purchasing sugar at higher rate a mega scandal, said that sugar mafia is committing robbery on the pockets of the people. She said that the nation is being looted with both hands in ‘Naya Pakistan’. “Sugar Inquiry commission was a ploy to save own thieves. Sugar thief has been sent to London. People are being forced to purchase sugar at the rate of Rs 90 per kilogram instead of Rs 52 per kilogram,” she said.