‘Blame me’: Rashid fends off Imran’s challenges
Minister asks PTI to divert million-man march’s funding towards IDPs.
ISLAMABAD:
Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid claimed on Saturday that upon his advice Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had decided to address party workers hours after the close of the May 11 polls, picking off one of four questions that PTI chief Imran Khan put to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz a day earlier.
“I am responsible if that was a crime and I am ready to face punishment,” Rashid told a news conference.
By that time, the minister said, television channels had already announced the results of more than 120 constituencies – which clearly indicated that the PML-N was the election frontrunner.
The minister, who is also a member of the upper house, also tackled the other three questions posed by the PTI chief. Flashing a news clipping dated October 20, 2012, he said: “It was Imran himself who had asked for the appointment of judicial officers as returning officers.”
On the question of a caretaker setup, Rashid said that nominees of his party were neither appointed as caretaker premier nor as Punjab chief minister. “Najam Sethi was a nominee of the PPP over whom we had merely compromised,” he added.
The minister then referred to another news item regarding a meeting between Sethi and Imran in Islamabad and said the entire bureaucracy from the chief secretary to the peon were changed and people close to Imran and PML-Q leaders were brought in.
Responding to the allegation of rigging in 35 constituencies, the minister said there were more than 70 constituencies of National Assembly and over 100 provincial assembly seats where the PTI had not fielded its candidates. “Those who contested with the PTI ticket bagged merely 8 per cent votes on an average and this record can be verified from the Election Commission of Pakistan’s website,” he added.
“We had never lost elections from Rawalpindi and if we had to rig elections we should have done that there,” Rashid said.
The minister said that the people of Pakistan had expressed their desire through the ballot and now the government has started delivering and addressing the chronic issues of energy and extremism but Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan are causing hindrances.
“We would have appreciated if Imran had criticised the government over its polices on these two issues but his political ambitions are blocking any advancement,” the minister stated.
The information minister said that the government wanted to bring an end to the politics of revenge and wanted to promote pluralism. But when he was asked why the government had allowed the Model Town clashes to take place if it desired such a policy, the minister lost his cool. “You cannot ask such questions,” the minister said as first response and then added, “An independent commission is investigating the matter and we should wait for it to submit its findings.”
For the first time, he said, a sitting government has asked its minister to resign and the chief minister removed his secretary after the incident.
He also asked Imran to divert Rs2 billion, supposedly required for PTI’s million-man march in Islamabad on August 14, for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2014.
Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid claimed on Saturday that upon his advice Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had decided to address party workers hours after the close of the May 11 polls, picking off one of four questions that PTI chief Imran Khan put to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz a day earlier.
“I am responsible if that was a crime and I am ready to face punishment,” Rashid told a news conference.
By that time, the minister said, television channels had already announced the results of more than 120 constituencies – which clearly indicated that the PML-N was the election frontrunner.
The minister, who is also a member of the upper house, also tackled the other three questions posed by the PTI chief. Flashing a news clipping dated October 20, 2012, he said: “It was Imran himself who had asked for the appointment of judicial officers as returning officers.”
On the question of a caretaker setup, Rashid said that nominees of his party were neither appointed as caretaker premier nor as Punjab chief minister. “Najam Sethi was a nominee of the PPP over whom we had merely compromised,” he added.
The minister then referred to another news item regarding a meeting between Sethi and Imran in Islamabad and said the entire bureaucracy from the chief secretary to the peon were changed and people close to Imran and PML-Q leaders were brought in.
Responding to the allegation of rigging in 35 constituencies, the minister said there were more than 70 constituencies of National Assembly and over 100 provincial assembly seats where the PTI had not fielded its candidates. “Those who contested with the PTI ticket bagged merely 8 per cent votes on an average and this record can be verified from the Election Commission of Pakistan’s website,” he added.
“We had never lost elections from Rawalpindi and if we had to rig elections we should have done that there,” Rashid said.
The minister said that the people of Pakistan had expressed their desire through the ballot and now the government has started delivering and addressing the chronic issues of energy and extremism but Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan are causing hindrances.
“We would have appreciated if Imran had criticised the government over its polices on these two issues but his political ambitions are blocking any advancement,” the minister stated.
The information minister said that the government wanted to bring an end to the politics of revenge and wanted to promote pluralism. But when he was asked why the government had allowed the Model Town clashes to take place if it desired such a policy, the minister lost his cool. “You cannot ask such questions,” the minister said as first response and then added, “An independent commission is investigating the matter and we should wait for it to submit its findings.”
For the first time, he said, a sitting government has asked its minister to resign and the chief minister removed his secretary after the incident.
He also asked Imran to divert Rs2 billion, supposedly required for PTI’s million-man march in Islamabad on August 14, for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2014.