NO QUESTION OF DEAL WITH NAWAZ, ZARDARI
Minister says government under pressure to reach deals, but will not do so
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said that the federal government is under immense pressure to strike deals with jailed thrice elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supremo Asif Ali Zardari but it would not surrender.
He did not elaborate from where such pressure is being exerted.
He said that the plunderers of national wealth would be punished as the government would continue the process of accountability without making any compromise.
“If the issue of accountability is to be compromised, why did Imran Khan become prime minister?”
The minister said Khan was fully committed to the accountability of the corrupt and would not spare anyone for his corrupt practices. He said that as per its election manifesto, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI) was running a clean and transparent government as not a single case of corruption had been reported since it came into power.
Chaudhry said the measures taken by the PTI government since day one to make the country self-suficient economically, had started yielding results as the exports had registered 4.68 percent increase and imports reduced by 8.88 percent during December 2018. He said the initial working to construct 5 million houses had already started, while thousands of kanals of state land had been retrieved from the grabbers.
The government would create over 50 million jobs in next ive years, the minister said adding that it would ensure protection of the rights of the downtrodden people, besides narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. He appealed to the overseas Pakistanis to send remittances through banking channels.
The year 2018 was the year of ‘achieving political victory’ for the country while it would gain economic success in the year 2019, he added.
The minister said that ‘unbelievable changes’ had occurred in the country under the leadership of Khan. The PTI led by Khan had defeated various maias in the last general elections.
Recently, the cabinet had decided to place names of 172 suspects of the fake bank accounts and money laundering case, including top PPP leaders and Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz, on the Exit Control List (ECL).