Those ‘not even trusted at home’ moving no-trust

Fawad says opposition destined to fail as its own MPs don’t stand by it

PIND DADAN KHAN:

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has taken a swipe at opposition leaders saying that their bid to bring a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan was doomed to fail “as their own families did not trust them”.

Fawad said the opposition parties with their “diminishing public support” were not in a position to topple the democratically-elected government through its long march on Islamabad on March 27.

“We will send ‘Doliyan’ (palanquins) to bring you (to Islamabad) on shoulders, as in my opinion, you are not even able to hold a walk let alone [stage] the long march,” he quipped while addressing PTI activists in Punjab’s Pind Dadan Khan town on Thursday.

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“They [opposition] are destined to fail as even their own parliamentarians will not stand by them,” he added.

The minister said the opposition leaders should first learn to stand on their own feet, if they wanted to launch a long march.

“However, they have no guts and political prowess to challenge Prime Minister Imran Khan, who fully enjoys the trust of the whole nation.”

Fawad said the ideologies of the PPP and JUI-F were poles apart as the former was a liberal party and the latter a religious one. “The two of them joined hands because of the dearth of political activists in PPP, which believes that the students of seminaries could be used to hold the long march.”

The minister said the opposition was living in a fool’s paradise if it believed that seminary students could be used to oust a democratically-elected government.

“The opposition parties will not succeed in their ‘nefarious designs’”.

To oust a government, Fawad said, one had to struggle, build up an ideology and establish strong contacts with the public.

“Otherwise, there is not an iota of a chance for success.”

The minister claimed that the politics of the Sharif and Zardari families was about to end, advising their scions PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to gauge their popularity among the public by contesting election for a mayoral slot before entering the national level politics.

He said former convicted premier Nawaz Sharif had fled the country by lying, and now he and his sons were not returning to the country despite the daily hearings of corruption cases being faced by his daughter, Maryam.

Read Fazlur Rehman hints at changing long march plan

Fawad also lambasted PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif for resorting to excuses in the court which was about to indict him in a money laundering case.

“Such excuses will not save Shehbaz from accountability.”

The minister said there were some straight questions that needed to be answered by Shehbaz, adding the PML-N president had to explain as to how Rs4 billion had poured into the account of Maqsood, who was a peon at his mill and drawing a paltry salary.

“Whosoever gets a job in the mills of the Sharif family ultimately becomes a billionaire. This is the cruelty they caused to the nation, and it is only Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PTI, which drew attention towards this injustice.”

The minister said if they wanted to do politics in Pakistan, the first condition for them was to return the “looted” money.

Referring to the Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG)-Bill passed by the Senate a day earlier, he said the legislation would help ensure provision of gas supply across the country.

Fawad also congratulated PM Imran and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar for bringing a “big change” in the country’s energy policy.

He lashed out at the previous government of the PML-N for “ruining” the industrial and agricultural sectors of Punjab.

“They deprived a big chunk of Punjab’s citizenry of motorway facility by excluding its major cities, including Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhelum, Dina, Sohawa and Gujjar Khan from those projects.”

Highlighting the present government initiatives, he said PM Imran was ensuring a motorway linking Sialkot with Rawalpindi that would benefit the people of several cities of the province.

He said a promise for building a canal in Jhelum was made a long time ago, but no government had made any effort for building it. “PM Imran is the only leader who has fulfilled that promise.”

After a hiatus of 50 years, he said, a dual carriageway was being constructed to connect the motorway with Grand Trunk Road.

“When the PTI was contesting the last elections in Jhelum, there was no clean drinking water facility in the area, but now multiple projects have been started by the prime minister to ensure better health of the people.”

He extended gratitude to the prime minister for giving multiple mega projects to the people of Jhelum.

He also called out the opposition for unjustified criticism on the increase of petroleum products’ prices in the country. “The opposition parties only criticise but offer no solution.”

(With input from APP)