Special Assistant to PM says Shehbaz Sharif is in self-imposed exile, while Nawaz also wants to get out of the country.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that democratic process was the only way to rid the country of social, political and economic complications.
Addressing a rally in Sambrial, she said the politics of Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) was based on provision of relief to the masses, and added that the premier was fully aware of the people’s sufferings and striving hard to bring more investment to the country to improve the situation.
She said the government was focusing on long-term projects for sustainable development instead of going for “showy” projects, as was done by the previous rulers. She said the opposition was pursuing an agenda of defending personal interest, and using parliament for this purpose. She said whenever the accountability process was launched in the country, all the corrupt politicians and former rulers got united and started crying for protecting democracy.
She said the people had given Imran Khan the mandate to punish the looters of the national exchequer, and added that the government would not show any leniency towards those who had mercilessly looted national wealth. She, however, said that any constructive criticism from the opposition would be welcomed.
The special assistant said the politics of deals had inflicted an irreparable loss to Pakistan. “By protecting corruption, former rulers have weakened the country,” she said, and added that the country was ruled by a group who used politics for business. Referring to the Sharif brothers, she said one had left the country, while the other was making efforts to go abroad.
She also said that Opposition Leader in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was in self-imposed exile. Coming down hard on the Sindh government, she said innocent children were dying of hunger in Thar, but the ruling party in the province was busy criticising the PTI government.
She said that front-men of some political parties were trying to mislead the people for their vested interests, but they would fail as people had become politically aware because of the PTI’s struggle in the past years. “In fact, the hue and cry being raised by some political parties was aimed at diverting the public attention from massive corruption of their party leaders,” she added.
Earlier, talking to the media before leaving for Sialkot, she said Imran Khan had reposed his confidence in her and the people of her constituency by appointing her as a special assistant. She said the people who claimed that the government’s popularity had decreased would see Imran Khan’s players everywhere. Separately, talking to media persons during her short stopover in Gujrat, Firdous said the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China would help local manufacturers in boosting the country’s exports. She said that due to poor economic policies of the former governments, the industries of Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sialkot were facing difficulties and showing a declining trend.
She said the new agreement with China would promote textile, food processing and manufacturing units, which would eventually help local traders export their products to China and other countries of the world. This would also help reduce the gap between the country’s import and export, she said, and added that special economic zones (SEZs) would be set up in the country with the recent accords with China. She said Gwadar would emerge as an economic hub at the international level.
