Fawad says Pakistan’s politics will fall apart without PM Imran

–Terms Maulana’s win as unfortunate for the country

–Says govt wants ECP to release a tender for EVMs purchase

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Fawad Hussain Chaudhry Tuesday said Pakistan’s politics will fall apart without Imran Khan so it is important for PTI workers to strengthen the Prime Minister.

Briefing media persons after the cabinet meeting in Islamabad, the Federal minister has termed the win of Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the first phase of Local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as unfortunate for the society.

“The rise of extremist political parties such as the recently unbanned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam would ultimately harm the country. He claimed the ruling PTI was the only “national party” in the country.

The minister was of the view that JUI-F had ruined the education and finance sectors when it was in power in KP in 2002, adding that the rise of parties such as the TLP and JUI-F would ultimately harm the country.

About a defeat of his ruling party in the LB polls, he said when three to four people from the same party contest in a constituency, they will lose. He suggested to the party leaders and workers that they should now put aside their differences and strengthen Imran Khan.

Political dwarfs try to increase their stature by criticizing PM Imran, he added.

The minister said the cabinet did not discuss recently concluded local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it was a federal cabinet meeting, not a meeting of PTI’s core committee. “We will talk about local body elections in the party’s core committee meeting,” he said and added that it was party’s own mistakes that had given chance to other parties to grab seats in LG polls.

Fawad said it was not encouraging for any society to give power to those who are against women’s rights and support a religiously violent policy like JUI-F.

The information minister said parties like JUI couldn’t be a substitute for the PTI.

Commenting on the tapes issue, Fawad said whenever the situation worsened for his government, Maryam Nawaz never disappointed to bring them out. And the tape that is playing today is a link in the same chain, he added.

He said Asif Ali Zardari had not succeeded to get a deal so delivering such speeches in public gatherings.

Today, those who are talking about managing the economy have drowned the economy by taking loans in their past governments. He said in five years, his government have to repay a loan worth $55 billion taken by Nawaz Sharif and Zardari in their tenures.

They had made payments of Rs134 billion to IPPs, he said adding that these payments were made due to expensive deals made under Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif regimes.

They have installed expensive plants on imported fuel which has resulted in a high cost of electricity today, he said adding that an IPP can generate 100 MW of electricity and if we need 25 MW then we have to pay for 100 MW of electricity.

Fawad said the OIC meeting will be held in March and Kashmir will be an integral part of it.

He said car manufacturing in Pakistan has raised 69% and sales of Suzuki Cultus increased by 161%, Suzuki Wagon R by 79%, Suzuki Bolan by 32% and Suzuki Alto by 180%. He also said that 85% of motorcycles are manufactured in Pakistan, and their parts are also manufactured locally.

He raised a question in connection with the said increase that how have these things increased if the economy has gone down?

Anyhow, he further said that the electricity consumption has increased by 13% and diesel by 26% in the PTI tenure while the construction, agriculture and textile sectors are experiencing historic improvements.

The minister said the foreign exchange reserves have been increased from $20.3 billion to $25.2 billion while the volume of exports has also been increased by 29% over the previous year.

At present, there are 200,000 companies in Pakistan that are registered with SECP, out of which 150,000 companies have been established and registered in the three years of PTI tenure.

He said a request for a meeting of ministers will be made with the Chief Election Commissioner tomorrow. He said the Cabinet has recommended an amendment to Section 22 of the Election Act.

Fawad said that a summary of contract employees was presented to the Cabinet. The cabinet has approved the loans obtained by the government, he added.

He said the appointment of official members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants was approved as well as members of the Human Commission for Children were also approved in KP in the cabinet meeting.

He said the cabinet has approved the name of Najam Riaz for the post of Commercial Attach in Saudi Arabia,

Fawad also claimed that the electricity has not become expensive but the fuel adjustment charges have increased.

The economic statistics of the country are improving. The farmers are earning an increased income. In the yield of the cotton crop, a profit of 19.5 percent is expected. Meanwhile, during COVID-19, an increase of 31 percent in income tax was observed.

Fawad Chaudhry once again urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to release a tender for procurement of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

“Cabinet has tasked Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Information Technology to assist ECP for purchase of 4000 voting machines in connection with upcoming local government elections in Islamabad,” he told media following the federal cabinet.

The information minister said that the cabinet approved the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2020-25.

Under the trade policy, various sectors including the traditional sectors like textile, leather, surgical instruments, sports goods, carpets, rice, cutlery, and developmental sectors including engineering goods such as auto parts, pharmaceuticals, marble and minerals, processed food and beverages, footwear, gems and jewelry, chemicals, meat and poultry, fruits and vegetables, seafood and services sector would be focused on for the enhancement of exports.

He went on to add that in order to ensure the transparency of elections, the approval of bringing amendments in the Election Act has been taken from the cabinet. He said that the amendment was done following the directions of the Supreme Court’s decision.

Fawad said that the government also constituted another committee to resolve the food and security crises of the country. TF Report