Opposition will die its own political death: Rashid

Interior minister says government unfazed by opposition’s political manoeuvrings

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Sunday predicted that the opposition’s manoeuvrings to oust the ruling party will toll its own death knell, asserting the government is unfazed by renewed efforts by political adversaries.

The interior minister’s sharp tone came a day after the top leadership of the two main opposition parties in parliament forged a joint strategy and vowed to weigh all options for sending Prime Minister Imran Khan packing.

Rashid threw a gauntlet to the opposition parties and said the government was unfazed in the face of the opposition’s long marches and no-confidence motions. “They are free to do whatever they want to do.”

Commenting on the meeting between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership, the minister took a jibe at Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman by saying that PML-N and PPP discarded him just like a bee is thrown out of a cup of tea.

“Maulana says that Imran Khan would be thrown out like a bee but, yesterday, PML-N and PPP threw Maulana away just like a bee,” he said while addressing a press conference. Rashid while addressing Maulana – the head of the opposition parties’ alliance PDM – said that neither the opposition would resign nor the long march would be successful.

Differences had emerged between PPP and PML-N on the issue of en mass resignations from the assemblies when they were united under the umbrella of PDM. Later on, PPP and ANP had parted ways with PDM and a face-to-face meeting between PPP and PML-N leadership was the first after a long hiatus.

Rashid’s statement has come after former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari met PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and vice president, Maryam Nawaz, over lunch in Model Town and discussed different options to oust the PTI government.

Rashid labelled the opposition leadership as ‘money launderers’, saying they had put the country in a difficult position and gathered on Kashmir Solidarity Day again to spread disintegration instead of expressing solidarity with the Kashmiris.

Unlike his previous press conferences where he would request PDM to reschedule its long march from March 23 to March 27 as it coincided with Pakistan Day celebrations, Rashid said that he would now insist the PDM and all other opposition parties launch their march on Pakistan Day as they posed no threat to the government.

The interior minister maintained that the opposition was mistaken if it feels that it poses any threat to the ruling alliance, saying they were in fact creating problems for themselves while attempting to send the government home. “Opposition is going to die its own political death,” he predicted, alleging the country faced FATF conditions because of the opposition.

Meanwhile, the minister said that the terrorist attacks in Balochistan were thwarted by the forces, saying the Pakistan Army killed 20 terrorists in 72 hours. He said that nine soldiers were martyred in the operation.

In response to a question, he said that India never loses any opportunity to harm Pakistan, adding that PM Imran’s recent visit to China was unbearable for India.

On negotiations with TTP, he said that the doors of negotiations were opened with the banned outfit but he did not want to comment on the issue before an appropriate time.

He, however, ruled out the option of holding talks with those taking up arms against Pakistan and its forces, saying the Pakistan Army was busy teaching a lesson to the terrorists attacking the country and its forces.

Speaking about the situation in Afghanistan, he said that Pakistan has good relations with the Afghan Taliban but the foreign minister was the right person to comment further on the situation in Afghanistan and relations with the Afghan Taliban. Nevertheless, he said, Pakistan was making efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan.

On the Pak-Saudi relationship, Ahmed said that Pakistan’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is extremely close to our hearts and minds, revealing that Saudi Arabia’s interior minister would start his visit to Pakistan on Monday.

He said that the issue of Pakistani prisoners in Saudi Arabia would be discussed in the meeting, adding Pakistan was already in touch with Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait for bringing back its prisoners.