Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Thursday suggested both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to replace their names with ‘Sharifia’ and ‘Zardaria’. The rule of both the Sharif and Zardari families has come to an end and it seems that future of PPP and PML-N rested with the young leaders instead of heirs of those parties, he told a news conference after the meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Executive Committee. Fawad said the rise of corruption and dynastic politics had been ended after Prime Minister Imran Khan came into the power. Pakistan was on right direction under the leadership of PM Imran Khan, he said, adding it was first time in the history that a clean government had come into power.

“Nobody ever thought of a scandal-free government in Pakistan,” he remarked.

About audio leaks of Maryam Nawaz, Fawad said those were real as she herself had admitted that it was her voice. Maryam should have resigned from her party position and tender apology to the people of Pakistan and media as well, he added.

The minister asked the PML-N to tender an apology in written as Pervaiz Rashid was its senior leader.

To a query, the minister said the government was ready to negotiate with the opposition on major reforms including electoral and economic ones. He ruled out of any negotiation on the ongoing accountability drive by the government.

Divulging details of the executive committee meeting, he said the PTI had announced its advisory councils for different regions, including Punjab, Sindh and others. “Except Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI has announced its executive and advisory boards in the provinces,” he said. The councils had been constituted separately in Central and South Punjab, besides Sindh.

He said Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib had been appointed as the PTI’s Information Secretary, and Siraj Khan as Finance Secretary.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Secretary General Asad Umar for coordinating with provincial presidents with regard to the party’s new organizational set-up.

The prime minister, he said, also directed the party to make preparations for the local government elections. “We are reaching out to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to build consensus for bringing amendment in the (election) code of conduct,” he said, adding the ministers, prime minister and assembly members should be allowed to participate in the election campaign. It was ‘ridiculous’ to issue notices to political people on running election campaigns in their constituencies, he remarked.

Fawad said efforts were afoot to engage other political parties so that a request should be made to the Election Commission of Pakistan for reviewing the code of conduct.

Fawad said as the LG bodies in Punjab had already completed their tenure, the prime minister had also issued directives for the party workers to start preparations for the upcoming LG elections. The government would ensure transparent local body polls in Punjab like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he added.

The minister said a comprehensive plan was underway to control inflation in the country. The National Assembly session had been summoned on January 10 and it was expected that the amended finance bill and a law pertaining to the State Bank of Pakistan would sail through it.

He said the approval of bills and singing of an agreement with the International Monitory fund (IMF) would usher in economic stability and strengthening the rupee against dollar.

As regards the ECP’s scrutiny report on funding of the PTI, he said it was the only party in the country which kept system of its funding fully organized. It had not only documented its funding efficiently but also submitted its complete record to the ECP, he added. Some 40,000 members contributed financially towards making the PTI a ‘strong and powerful’ party, he said, expressing gratitude for the workers who entrusted PM Imran Khan with their donations.

The PTI was vindicated in the foreign funding case, he said, adding “We, now, wait for the scrutiny committees’ reports on the funding of PML-N and PPP so that it can be known where they stand.”

The minister accused the PML-N of suspicious transactions worth Rs 270 million through a local bank account. An entry of Rs 30 million was made in the name of Bawan Das, while a person namely Hanif Khan deposited an amount of Rs 45 million in the PML-N account which was later transferred by Nawaz Sharif in his own account.