Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, while terming the all-parties conference (APC) a ‘show of disappointment’, asked the opposition to refrain from dragging state institutions into politics on the behest of Pakistan’s enemies.
“Governments come and go, but the opposition is in fact playing to the tunes of those desiring ill of the country,” the foreign minister said at a news conference, flanked by Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz, Planning Minister Asad Umer and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry.
Qureshi criticized the opposition’s open targeting of state institutions, including the army, the judiciary and the National Accountability Court (NAB), which, he said, is contrary to the national interest. “The opposition attacked an institution that always remained vigilant for defending the country’s sovereignty and laid immense sacrifices of lives,” he said, adding that the main motive behind the APC was the opposition’s failed attempt to get the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) rolled back.
“For the opposition, the rollback of NAB is an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) of the time,” he said, referring to the deal made to accommodate the financially corrupt in the past. “On being unsuccessful to pressurize Prime Minister Imran Khan for the NRO, the APC was called, which turned out to be a ‘mix of contradictions’,” he said, stressing that the government would not succumb to any pressure in this regard.
The foreign minister said the people are wise enough to judge the mala fide behind the APC that levelled incorrect allegations against the government and criticized the foreign policy. “This is not a pain for democracy, but an expression of self-centred vested interests,” he said, terming APC an insult to the voters’ mandate.
On the opposition’s criticism of the Kashmir policy, he said the government effectively highlighted the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at all forums and supported the cause of its people. “In their (PML-N) tenure, the use of word Kashmir was prohibited to appease the neighbouring India,” he recalled. There is the ‘contradiction’ in the stance of opposition political parties, which are part of the unanimous passing of resolutions in the Parliament tabled by the government on the Kashmir, he added.
The foreign minister categorically rejected the opposition’s claims of winding up the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which, he said, had successfully entered into the second phase. Recalling his meeting with his Chinese counterpart on August 21 in Beijing, Foreign Minister Qureshi said complete satisfaction was expressed from the other side over the pace of work on CPEC projects being carried out by the government of Pakistan.
He said the opposition’s charge-sheet against economic situation was incorrect as Pakistan, even after the pandemic situation, is effectively recovering from the financial impact. He mentioned that with the blessings of Almighty Allah, assistance by the friendly countries and an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country witnessed significant improvement in overall economic indicators. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had left the country with an economic disaster that required time and strategy to deal with.
On the opposition’s call for a demonstration in January, Qureshi said those, who supported a strict lockdown, were planning a get-together as the world warned of the second wave of Covid-19 during the winter. “Giving resignations or not is up to them, but still there is enough time for them as usual to change their minds and end up with lame claims,” he said.
The minister said on the issue of Financial Action Task Force, the government put its best efforts to get the country out of grey list. The opposition should ‘check within its ranks’ to ascertain the cause of their embarrassment in the joint sitting of parliament, he added.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said Nawaz Sharif is not doing a service to democracy and Pakistan by trying to create chaos and controversy to discredit the present political set-up which he claimed to own. He said Nawaz Sharif should not make the elections and democracy controversial as the country had done many favours to him. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan decided that the speeches of all the opposition leaders at APC should be allowed to be aired. The speeches of Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto, he said, were not stopped from being telecast. Maulana Fazlur Rehman protested to the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership that his speech was not allowed by them to be aired.
The minister said Nawaz Sharif in his speech tried to create doubts about the 2018 general election and prove that the same were rigged but the facts and figures negated his claim.
