Saad Rafique calls Mustafa Kamal, Chaudhrys of Gujrat ‘political robots’
Suggests Zardari compelled to act against ruling party due to corruption
EXPRESS NEWS SCREEN GRAB
LAHORE:
Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that non-political robots are out to push PAT chief Tahir-ul Qadri for promoting an anti-PML-N agenda.
Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, Rafique said PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari was a shrewd man but had a lot of weaknesses that were easy to exploit, and the PML-N knew why he was working against it.
He said Zardari was under scrutiny in a lot of corruption cases, suggesting that he was compelled to act against the government due to apprehensions of probe.
Saad Rafique advises military against meddling in politics
Rejecting the idea that the PPP could beat the PTI in the coming elections, the railways minister said that the PPP had again missed the chance to regain its lost glory. He said that the party had substantially lost its support.
Zardari, he said, could have saved his party if he had just allowed his son and chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to lead the party. The PPP, he added, was now confined to rural areas of Sindh.
According to him, there was once a time when all votes in Pakistan were divided into two categories: pro-Bhutto and anti-Bhutto. “The voters now are either pro-Nawaz or anti-Nawaz,” he claimed.
Both main opposition parties i.e. the PPP and the PTI were out to secure anti-Nawaz votes by “bad mouthing us, which is unbecoming of political leaders” he said.
Referring to new political alliances, Rafique said there were political and non-political entities. Calling non-political elements robots, he said such elements were out to push Tahir-ul Qadri for promoting their own agenda. He also labelled the PML-Q and “a Karachi-based party” as robots.
However, he said that Qadri “is a smart man who understands the fragile situation”. Calling Qadri’s grievances genuine, he said that 10 of his activists had died, but the matter was now in the court.
The minister stressed the need for avoiding “street courts” causing public inconvenience at a massive scale. “We must all respect the judicial process.”
He said new political alliances were being formed for two basic reasons – all political parties tried to take the PML-N down individually but failed. This was one of the reasons why they were all joining forces to “give us a tough time”, he added.
Unfair to reopen Hudabiya Paper Mills scam case against Sharifs: Saad Rafique
The second reason was that the PML-N stood for “the supremacy of law and vote”, he said, adding that all state institutions should work within their ambits.
“This is the second time the PML-N is paying the price for striving for supremacy of law,” he said. “We are not worried because we also have our own political alliances.”
Rafique said all political parties had the right to form alliances and hold political gatherings and criticise the government. “We even appreciate the PPP for holding a grand public gathering in Islamabad. We want them to hold more of such political gatherings in Punjab… this will only add to our advantage,” he added.
Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that non-political robots are out to push PAT chief Tahir-ul Qadri for promoting an anti-PML-N agenda.
Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, Rafique said PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari was a shrewd man but had a lot of weaknesses that were easy to exploit, and the PML-N knew why he was working against it.
He said Zardari was under scrutiny in a lot of corruption cases, suggesting that he was compelled to act against the government due to apprehensions of probe.
Saad Rafique advises military against meddling in politics
Rejecting the idea that the PPP could beat the PTI in the coming elections, the railways minister said that the PPP had again missed the chance to regain its lost glory. He said that the party had substantially lost its support.
Zardari, he said, could have saved his party if he had just allowed his son and chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to lead the party. The PPP, he added, was now confined to rural areas of Sindh.
According to him, there was once a time when all votes in Pakistan were divided into two categories: pro-Bhutto and anti-Bhutto. “The voters now are either pro-Nawaz or anti-Nawaz,” he claimed.
Both main opposition parties i.e. the PPP and the PTI were out to secure anti-Nawaz votes by “bad mouthing us, which is unbecoming of political leaders” he said.
Referring to new political alliances, Rafique said there were political and non-political entities. Calling non-political elements robots, he said such elements were out to push Tahir-ul Qadri for promoting their own agenda. He also labelled the PML-Q and “a Karachi-based party” as robots.
However, he said that Qadri “is a smart man who understands the fragile situation”. Calling Qadri’s grievances genuine, he said that 10 of his activists had died, but the matter was now in the court.
The minister stressed the need for avoiding “street courts” causing public inconvenience at a massive scale. “We must all respect the judicial process.”
He said new political alliances were being formed for two basic reasons – all political parties tried to take the PML-N down individually but failed. This was one of the reasons why they were all joining forces to “give us a tough time”, he added.
Unfair to reopen Hudabiya Paper Mills scam case against Sharifs: Saad Rafique
The second reason was that the PML-N stood for “the supremacy of law and vote”, he said, adding that all state institutions should work within their ambits.
“This is the second time the PML-N is paying the price for striving for supremacy of law,” he said. “We are not worried because we also have our own political alliances.”
Rafique said all political parties had the right to form alliances and hold political gatherings and criticise the government. “We even appreciate the PPP for holding a grand public gathering in Islamabad. We want them to hold more of such political gatherings in Punjab… this will only add to our advantage,” he added.