Political crisis: Let PTI leaders resume talks, minister tells Imran

Says Imran is acting like a ‘king’, who is forcing his party members to resign from the NA

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to allow his party leaders to resume talks with the government.

At a press conference held at the National Press Club, the minister called upon Imran Khan “to release Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Arif Alvi and Jahangir Tareen” and restart negotiations with the government.

Criticising the PTI chief, he said he was acting like a ‘king’, who was forcing his party members to quit the National Assembly.

“It is the people’s right to elect and reject [the lawmakers] but Imran Khan has snatched the right of the people. He is trying to force his party MNAs to resign from their seats without consulting the people from their constituencies,” he said.



The minister said the Imran Khan’s campaign of marches and sit-ins was causing political and economic losses but was not coming forward when it came to providing relief to the people.

“The Punjab government is contemplating steps to pass on relief to the masses but Imran Khan has not yet indicated as to what his government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is doing for people,” he said.

The minister said the drastic reduction in prices of petroleum products would promote betterment of the people and would end their sufferings.

“The reduction in prices will benefit those having personal transport as well as passengers availing public transport and people doing goods transportation,” he said.

Rashid said Karachi Goods Transport Association immediately announced plans to reduce fares by five per cent once the fuel price cut was announcement of price cut.

“As a consequence, the transportation cost of goods from Karachi to Islamabad will come down by Rs5,000 as a result of which the consumers will get cheaper goods,” he added.

He said the government has reduced the price of petrol by Rs9.43 per litre but the reduction could have been up to Rs14 rupees if there were no sit-ins. He said the dollar rates had gone up due to the politics of sit-ins.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2014.