Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Tuesday said the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) was an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) both in the Centre and in Punjab, and the opposition’s dreams of a rift between the two parties would not become a reality.
Addressing a press conference flanked by Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Zubair Gilani here, she said the PML-Q leadership knew that those, who had ruined the national economy and gone abroad leaving their voters in problems, had no support of the people.
She said Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari himself was a puppet whose strings were being pulled by the corrupt leadership. Bilawal blamed the Federal Government for the inefficiency of Sindh Government irrespective the fact that the PPP did not resolve the people’s problems in the province despite ruling it for the last 11 years, she added.
To a question about alleged dual nationality of Federal Minister Faisal Vawda, she said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not give verdicts on the wishes of people. If someone had proofs against Vawda, he should knock the doors of ECP and if proven guilty, the government would stand by the law and not by its legislator.
To another question, she said flour was available in Punjab but a section of the media was projecting only one-sided news. Stern action was being taken against the hoarders and anybody involved in the crime would not be spared.
The prices of both flour and sugar would come down in next few days as the government has taken steps in that regard, she added.
The SAPM said the unanimous approval of the names of Chief Election Commissioner and ECP members manifested that the parliament was playing its due role as a true democratic institution. Both the government and the opposition showed responsibility and with consultation named the new CEC in the larger national interest.
The CEC’s unanimous nomination reflected the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to empower the national institutions so that they could perform their duties freely under the ambit of law and the Constitution, she added.
The opposition would hopefully continue its cooperation in the parliament for pro-people legislation, Dr Firdous said.
Earlier at the outset, the SAPM said the government had taken steps to remove hurdles in the way of setting up small businesses as no past regime had paid heed to the problems faced by the small traders.
On Monday the prime minister chaired a high-level meeting on the issue, where 74 licenses for setting up small businesses were removed for which the small investors were used to be at the mercy of bureaucracy.
The credit for the step went to the BoI team, which prepared a comprehensive road-map for the prime minister’s approval, she added.
Dr Firdous said the prime minister left for Davos where he would hold meetings with world leaders and inform them about the economic progress in Pakistan and the steps taken by his government for ease of doing business.
She said the prime minister as an advocate of the Kashmir cause, would expose the real face of Indian government which while pursuing the ideology of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had made the lives of people of held Kashmir and all the minorities in entire India hell.