Canvassing: Ministers won’t use govt machinery, says Saad

Minister accuses Imran Khan of harming democracy

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) ministers would not use government machinery for the election campaign in NA 122, Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique said on Sunday.

“It is unfair to allow one party to campaign for its candidate and stop the other,” Rafique told a press conference. He accused Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan of trying to destabilise the country and damage the judicial and parliamentary institutions.

“Imran Khan led sit-ins to stop us from serving the people. It seems that he does not want us to complete development projects. Who stops him from launching a metro bus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa?”

Refique said the PML-N’s performance had been impressive. People would vote for it in the NA 122 by-elections, he said. He said the government was committed to eliminating terrorism from the country. He said Operation Zarb-i-Azb had broken the backbone of the terrorist network. He said the government had announced the Kisaan Package to provide relief to small farmers. “That has nothing to do with the politics,” the minister said.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had highlighted the Kashmir dispute in the United Nations. “The world has praised Pakistan’s stance on the Palestine issue,” he said. “The prime minister has never compromised on the national honour,” Rafique said.

He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had changed the outlook of Lahore by initiating several development projects. “People will vote for PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the by-poll.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2015.