Let’s work on electoral reforms jointly, govt offers talks to Opposition

The PTI government has once again offered dialogue to the Opposition over electoral reforms after the recent Senate debacle came as a setback to them, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The government said “Let’s sit together and work on electoral reforms jointly and cancel the long march.”

The offer was made by two federal ministers – Shibli Faraz and Chaudhry Fawad Hussain – while addressing a joint news conference in Islamabad on Sunday.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said “The political orphans have initiated a campaign and were talking about a long march and resignations.”

“The opposition parties were disappointed by the vote of confidence obtained by Prime Minister Imran Khan and are now licking their wounds after defeat in Senate elections,” Shibli said, adding “The Opposition is now seeing its political death.” 

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has two narratives – one is accountability and the other is transparency in the elections which are in the best interest of the country. 

He said there is only one option for Nawaz Sharif – pay back the looted wealth or go to prison.

He said giving statements against the country due to failure in the elections is condemnable. “There is a backlash in the public over whatever PML-N leader Javed Latif had said,” Fawad said. He praised NAB’s move seeking cancellation of PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz’s bail application in Lahore High Court (LHC).

Fawad said neither Maryam Nawaz could go to London nor Nawaz Sharif and Altaf Hussain could return to Pakistan.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz on Sunday said that opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has faced defeat at every turn.

Talking to media persons along with Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Shibli Faraz said that immature politicians of opposition parties have launched a campaign against the government.

The minister further said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s strategy to tackle coronavirus was a success and despite the pandemic country’s economy is growing and business activities are increasing.

He claimed that differences have been surfaced between the PML-N and the PPP after the Senate elections.

Fawad said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and founder of MQM are not political persons rather they were a gift of politics of 1985.

The minister said that Nawaz Sharif and MQM founder received similar training and both are not coming back to Pakistan from London.

He said anti-Pakistan statements after defeat in an election are condemnable and stressed that people who want to follow the footsteps of the MQM founder should also take into account his political end.

Fawad said the PML-N and PPP both supported open balloting for Senate elections in their Charter of Democracy and urged the senior leadership of both the parties to take matters into their hands and cancel the long march that is scheduled for March 26.

He reiterated that there would have been no issues if the Senate elections were held through an open vote and urged the political parties to sit with the government for electoral reforms instead of conducting a long march.

Fawad Chaudhry said Rs1,600 billion had been given to Sindh during the last two years.

Faraz said the country's economy is getting stable and all the business activities were in full swing despite Covid-19. He said all the economic indicators were on a positive trajectory.

He stressed the need for adopting precautionary measures to control the current upsurge in the pandemic. He said the process of coronavirus vaccination is in progress on merit in Punjab.

Responding to a question, Shibli Faraz said the government is committed to providing relief to the masses.

In response to another question, he said the country's exports and remittances are also increasing due to the steps taken by the government.

Faraz said the strategy of Prime Minister Imran Khan against the coronavirus pandemic has been appreciated internationally.