Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of any airbase of the US in Pakistan as all such facilities were under country’s own use. “It is the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which after coming into the power, ended drone surveillance facility (given to the US in the past),” Fawad said while briefing reporters about the decisions taken in the federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan. “All the airbases are under the use of Pakistan. Right now, no negotiations in this regard are underway as Pakistan cannot give any airbase [to any country],” he said. As regards the truck attack on a Muslim family of Pakistani origin in Canada, the minister condemned the terrorist act. “The West, which always blames the Muslims for extremism, should do some soul-searching as a Muslim family was ‘ruthlessly’ martyred there.” The minister said the details of initial inquiry being conducted into Ghotki train accident would be made public. Unfortunately, he said, the national institutions like Pakistan Railways are in a shambles due to illegal appointments, mismanagement and zero-investment by the previous regimes. He held the previous regimes responsible for the tragedy as they had left an ‘inefficient’ Railways department behind. The minister urged the opposition to cooperate with the government for carrying out electoral reforms, advising them to refrain from using the Parliament for seeking relief in the corruption cases of their leaders. He said the PTI had emerged as the single federal party of the country while the PPP and PML-N were relegated to Sindh and Central Punjab respectively, hoping that they would further squeeze to the particular areas in the next general elections. About the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the next general election, he said the government had presented the electoral reforms bill in the Parliament in October last year with 49 amendments in the existing election laws. “We want legislation on these amendments in consultation with the opposition parties, so that we can lead to such elections that will be acceptable to all,” he said. The minister said it was unfortunate that the PML-N had filed a petition in the court against the voting right to the overseas Pakistanis, while the PPP’s response over the matter was still awaited. He said the opposition’s narrative on inflation and economic deterioration had been completely fizzled out as all the economic indicators were on upward trajectory due to prudent policies of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The minister said the federal cabinet had rejected the Pakistan Television Corporation’s (PTV) request for singing an agreement with Indian channels to put cricket matches on display. However, the government was working on an alternative plan for the purpose. “Ties with India cannot be improved unless it reverses its August 5, 2019 action,” he maintained while citing the reason behind rejection of the PTV’s request.