Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan responded to Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday after the latter taunted Prime Minister Imran by referring to him as ‘Niazi’.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Firdous said the prime minister is proud of the fact that he is a Niazi. She said the former Punjab chief minister should tell the nation about his own background first. “Is ‘Mian’ your title, caste or have you kept the name just because you like it,” she asked. “Shehbaz should tell the nation himself or I will have to,” she added.
“You have forgotten your properties that were frozen by NAB a day earlier. You should also have commented on your cash boys who laundered money for you, the cars in which the nation’s stolen money was stuffed and transferred abroad and how [the money] came back to Pakistan in the form of telegraphic transfers,” Dr Firdous went on to say. She regretted that Shehbaz, in his hour-long press conference, did not give any updates on his brother Nawaz Sharif’s health, who travelled to London to get treatment after he was granted bail by the high courts of Lahore and Islamabad on medical grounds.
She also regretted that the opposition has been delaying consensus over the name of the next chief election commissioner. “The government has been trying to ensure that the Election Commissioner of Pakistan remains functional,” she said.
Referring to a settlement between the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom and the family of property tycoon Malik Riaz, Dr Firdous said the nation has witnessed the fulfilment of the prime minister’s promise to bring back looted wealth to the country a day earlier. “The prime minister’s promise to bring back looted wealth began to materialise. The national crime agency’s press release reflects the fact. A recovery of Rs 38.5 million has been made from a Pakistani family,” she said. She said the press release mentions that the assets will be returned to the Pakistan. “This is not something that the prime minister is saying or some spokesperson. It is the agency stating this,” she maintained. “Never before in 72 years has any ruler dared to do such a thing which Imran Khan has made possible,” she said.
When asked by a reporter whether she was ‘following orders by the prime minister given to cabinet members, asking them not to take Malik Riaz’s name’, she denied any such directives being issued. “Whether it is you, me, or Malik Riaz, no one is a holy cow. Every person who has acted against national interests, will be prosecuted as per the law,” she remarked. Dr Firdous also denounced the besieging of a newspaper’s office in Islamabad and said that action was taken immediately after the protest came to her notice. She said the government will discourage any such acts. “It is our responsibility to protect your lives and property. To protect Pakistan’s interests is your (the media’s) responsibility,” she said. “In politics, two different narratives go side by side. But where the state’s interest is concerned, you have to separate politics and the state. I am with you (the media), whenever there is injustice,” she assured. “I am your spokesperson as well.”
