Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry Tuesday lashed out at the major opposition parties for criticizing Prime Minister Imran Khan just for the sake of increasing their falling popularity. “The leadership of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) is nothing more than political pygmies and their criticism of Prime Minister Imran Khan is just an attempt to increase their stature,” he said in a post-cabinet briefing in Islamabad. Fawad said the rise of extremist religious political parties such as the recently unbanned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam would ultimately harm the country. The minister opined that it would be unfortunate for the country if Fazlur Rehman’s party came into power. Briefing the media about the decisions taken by the federal cabinet in a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the minister said return of those, who were against the women rights and supported violence in the name of religion, to the power was not encouraging for any society. “What else could be expected if three to four persons from one party contested elections in the same constituency,” he said, adding, “Ultimately, it would result into defeat in elections.” “Due to administrative problems, we suffered some setback in the local bodies’ elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Fawad said, adding that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was the only national party in the country. He said parties like JUI-F could not be substitute for PTI, whereas PML-N and PPP had no place in national politics. “Imran Khan is the leader of the federation; it is important for the leadership and workers of PTI to put aside their differences and strengthen Imran Khan’, Fawad remarked. Without Imran Khan, Pakistan’s politics would disintegrate, he added. He said Maryam Nawaz had the habit of committing political blunders and even today she did not disappoint her detractors. Disappointment was reflected in Asif Ali Zardari’s speech as well, he said, adding only those could speak in that way whose wishes could not be fulfilled. The minister said on the occasion of OIC FMs conference, Pakistan’s viewpoint on the Afghan humanitarian crisis resonated across the world. IT & S&T ministers to visit ECP today: The minister said the cabinet had decided that ministers for science and technology and information technology would meet the Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday (today) to assure all-out assistance from the government in holding the Islamabad local government elections through the EVMs. He said the ECP should issue tenders for purchase of EVMs so that the next general elections could be conducted through the EVMs. He said the cabinet was given a detailed briefing on the state of economy, which expressed satisfaction over its stability due to the positive economic indicators. In five years, the present government will have to repay $55 billion loans taken by Nawaz Sharif and Zardari regimes. He said this year Pakistan has retired $12.27 billion loans whereas it would have to repay $12.5 billion next year.