‘Criminals joining hands to mask corruption’: Fawad on Lahore huddle

Information minister insists PM Imran is still 'most popular leader' in Pakistan

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday took the opposition to task for joining hands to topple the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying a “gang of criminals” was uniting under one umbrella to mask its corruption.

"Today, Bilawal and Zardari paid a visit to Shehbaz Sharif… the same person who had vowed to rip open the stomach and get the money looted from the nation from them," Fawad said while addressing a presser in Beijing, hours after the two major opposition parties – PPP and PML-N – announced that they will use all democratic and constitutional means to topple the PTI-led government to rid the country of “incompetent rulers”.

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This was announced at a joint news conference held after senior leaders of both parties including PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, Vice President Maryam Nawaz, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former president Asif Ali Zardari and others met over luncheon hosted by the former at his residence in Lahore.

"Those who don't have any integrity intact remain embroiled in these sorts of situations," Fawad remarked. He went on to add that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was a "movement that lacks substance; it says one thing on one occasion and another on the other".

"We have been saying from day one that these people weren't apart… all these are together in the enmity of Imran Khan," Fawad remarked.

"A time when the entire nation is standing in solidarity with Kashmiris, criminals of the nation expressed solidarity with each other and gathered in Model Town," he said.

According to the minister, "They (opposition) come together whenever there is a progress in their cases pertaining to corruption."

Also read: PPP, PML-N vow to go all out against Imran govt

"This is a gang of criminals in Pakistan that unites whenever there is an attempt to restrain their crimes or to bring back the looted money."

Downplaying today’s meeting between top leaders of PPP and PML-N after months of strained ties, Fawad said, "It didn't affect us in the past and it won't to do in the future."

According to the PTI stalwart, "Imran Khan is the most popular leader of Pakistan". He added that PTI was a federal party, while all others had shrunk into regional parties. "PML-N is a party of central Punjab while the PPP is a party of interior Sindh," he maintained.

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib also came down hard on opposition parties, saying Prime Minister would never handover an NRO-like deal to the looters, who were "toeing personal motives over national interest".

Also read: Opposition seeks to 'turn tables' on govt over rare lunch

"Today’s meeting between PPP and PML-N leaders was meaningless as the government and people were least bothered about it,” Habib was quoted as saying.

He further said, "the group of plunderers would go to jail together”, adding that the ‘ill-gotten wealth’ of Asif Ali Zardari and Sharif family was stashed abroad.