Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Tuesday said the government is not worried about the activities of the opposition and will let it do whatever it wants to.

“Majority of the opposition leaders are facing serious charges of corruption, cases against many of them are in courts, some of them are convicted and some are on bail,” he told a press conference here to give details of the decisions taken in the weekly cabinet meeting as well as a meeting on price control.

He said the opposition is carrying out its political activity at a time when the economy is improving and jobs are being created despite the coronavirus pandemic. The opposition parties, he said, were rejected by the people and have no future because they want to only save their leaders and their looted wealth. They want to put pressure on the government through their political activity but they will not get any concession in the corruption cases, he stressed.

Shibli Faraz recalled that after the general elections 2013, some 413 petitions were filed in the Election Commission while after the 2018 polls, their number was 287, 90 of them for the National Assembly seats, including 13 submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and 11 by the PML-N. The PTI lost 16 seats by a margin of 50 to 2500 votes.

He said in his view the opposition got more seats despite their corruption and bad governance. The people rejected Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and both the PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party abandoned him when he came to Islamabad the last time, he added. He said the opposition parties have no moral ground to agitate on the streets and their leadership wanted a country where they could further amass wealth through corruption.

To a question, the minister said the PTI government improved the economy, which was damaged by the previous regime. The efforts to further expand the economy were hampered by the coronavirus, which caused negative economic growth in leading economies of the world as well, he added.

He said the prime minister was most worried about the economic conditions of poor people. He said both the PML-N and PPP leaders had double standards as they were asking the people to take to the streets despite the threat of coronavirus.

He assured that the gas prices would not be raised for consumers. The Sindh government’s refusal to give right of way for a pipeline disrupted the gas supplies, he added.

The minister said the government would improve the financial situation of institutions and decrease the circular debt in the power and gas sectors. Electricity rates in Karachi were raised to end disparity with other parts of the country, he added. To a question, he said the Tiger Force comprising volunteers, including teachers, students, doctors and other segments of society would just keep a check on the prices in their areas as it had no administrative power.

To another question, Shibli Faraz said the family of Maryam Safdar looted the national wealth and the courts gave verdicts against them. He said the ideologies of the Sharif family changed like the changing weather and it was responsible for the present difficulties of the people.