Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has accused the ‘so called principled party’, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), for relying on turncoats to rule Punjab.
Addressing party workers on Friday, Kaira said PML-N, which did not have a majority in the Punjab Assembly, was actively indulging in ‘purchasing’ loyalties of legislators.
He blamed PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for pursuing politics of hatred by fueling provincialism and raising slogans such as ‘Jag Punjabi Jag’. In contrast, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) promoted politics of reconciliation, according to the minister, who claimed that was why PPP had restored the Constitution of 1973 with the help of coalition partners.
Kaira said that Nawaz had miserably failed on many occasions to fulfill his commitments and had not learnt a lesson from his past mistakes. He said that Nawaz backed out from many articles of the Charter of Democracy (CoD), which he had signed with Benazir Bhutto, including the commitment to refrain from pre-election horse-trading and to form a constitutional accountability commission.
Kaira claimed that PPP was in a position to form a coalition government in Punjab with Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), but had preferred to keep its commitments as per the CoD. He stated that in spite of PML-N withdrawing its support at the Centre, PPP continued to back them in Punjab for the cause of democracy, even though its legislators were subjected to persecution and prosecution.
Kaira said that PPP had never compromised on principles, nor its leaders fled abroad, despite the worst dictatorial oppression and victimisation. The PPP government had given autonomy to the provinces, distributed over Rs 900 billion amongst the provinces, overcome terrorism and made the country self-sufficient despite many hurdles narrated Kaira.
He asserted that only elections could determine the popularity of political leaders, not the IRI surveys, which according to him were not reliable. The next general elections would decide how popular Nawaz was amongst the masses, he added. He also asserted that PPP was accountable only for the period in which it was in power and could not be held responsible for actions taken by others before 2008, adding that load shedding existed before PPP came into power and that PPP leadership had even criticised the menace of load shedding in its election campaign for 2008.
He apprised the audience that the PPP government would soon overcome load shedding – a problem it had inherited from the past dictatorial regime. In this regard, he referred to the projects, including Thar Coal, Bhasha Dam, etc. initiated by the PPP government for power generation.
PML-N banking on turncoats to govern Punjab: Kaira
