Govt struggles with messaging on assemblies dissolution

Vague statements as ruling coalition left stunned by PTI’s final move

ISLAMABAD:

In what appears to be the first official reaction to the Punjab assembly’s time-bound dissolution, the coalition government’s spokesperson issued a vague statement repeating the same-old rant against political rivals and hoping that Punjab will fall back into PML-N’s lap with the power of the vote.

It was followed by a gun-blazing statement of JUI-F against PTI chairman Imran Khan stating that the coalition government would take decisions about the Punjab assembly’s dissolution keeping the national interests in view.

Staying tight-lipped for a day after Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi’s advice sealed the fate of the provincial assembly, the PML-N-led government struggled to respond to the PTI-PML-Q alliance’s move of sending a summary for the Punjab assembly’s dissolution after winning trust vote.

Unlike previous occasions where the coalition government was quick to issue a joint statement on key political developments, the ruling alliance didn’t have much to say after being stunned by Punjab’s ruling alliance and refrained from issuing statements that showed its cluelessness.

Several bigwigs of the ruling alliance, who usually issue statements on almost all political happenings, were asked to share the coalition government’s reaction to the dissolution of the assemblies, their possible plan, if it was ready for elections and how would the dissolution of assemblies affect country’s economy but in vain.

Many stayed silent, some excused for not being in the country and fully aware of the political situation while others deflected the questions to the government’s spokesperson.

Through the statement, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Friday that Punjab has been purged from those who looted the resources of the province for four years.

The information minister said that the stalled process of development will be restarted in Punjab again, saying the era of prosperity would begin once again and cruelties allegedly committed in the four years would be redressed.

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“People will not vote for those who pushed the country to the brink of default,” Marriyum said. In addition, the minister said that the “sane and wise people of Punjab” will vote for their development and they will not vote for the “foreign agents and thieves”. “The people will not vote for those who looted, destroyed and ruined Punjab,” she stated.

In the statement, Marriyum said that the people of Punjab have recognized those who buy diamond rings from the resources of Punjab and the hard-earned money of the people of Punjab. “Like the federation, foreign agents will be wiped out from Punjab with the power of vote and elections,” she said.

With the power of the vote, she maintained, the looters, foreign agents and frontmen will be eliminated. For four years, she added, the federation and Punjab were robbed by ex-premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, her friend Farah Gogi and several frontmen.

“Will start the era of prosperity in Punjab again,” she said, adding people of Punjab will vote for free treatment, education and better road infrastructure. Similarly, the JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri accused Imran of not doing any constructive work in his four-year rule, saying after destroying the economy he has now attacked the “jugular vein of Pakistani politics” – Punjab.

By dissolving the Punjab Assembly, Ghauri said, Imran destroyed the shelter in which he himself was residing. He declared Imran an enemy of economic stability, saying all efforts were being made to bring economic stability but Imran’s move has once again taken the country’s economy to instability.

“The incompetent rulers of K-P and Punjab are using every tactic to weaken the country and the people are not even able to afford flour,” he said. PPP’s Faisal Karim Kundi said that just as Imran left the National Assembly and ran away, he has now run away from Punjab.

Kundi said that K-P will also be freed from the PTI government in the coming days, saying people drove PTI from the governments and they will now drive them out through elections.