- Railways minister says PM will not take vote of confidence, rules out early elections
Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique on Monday ruled out that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will take vote of confidence from the parliament, saying there is no need of such exercise.
“There is no chance of early elections,” he told a questioner during a press conference here at the Lahore Press Club along with Punjab Minister Rana Mashhood Khan and Zaeem Qadri. Saad said that the opposition has started demand of the prime minister’s resignation which is unfair.
He said that the Panama Papers have no value as these were stolen. Pakistan was the only country where a judicial commission was set to probe into the matter, he said. He pointed out that the Panama Papers have accused the influential people of more than 40 countries.
“Opposition attempted to give government a bad name through Panama Papers but their bid was foiled successfully. The prime minister and his family presented themselves before the court for accountability,” he said, and lashed out at opponents, saying that they were now targeting the national institutions.
He said that former president Asif Ali Zardari rejected the Supreme Court’s verdict and targeted the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). “Difference of opinion is another thing, but blaming the national institutions is injustice,” he said, adding that Zardari had jumped into the ‘sea of corruption’ and had become a ‘threat’ to Sindhis.
Calling Zardari a burden on nation and soil, Saad said that he (Zardari) fears of the popularity of the Pakistan Muslim League-N in Sindh province and was hungry of power. “We also have reservation against the verdict of two judges but we accepted it instead of criticising it,” he told a questioner.
He said that the Pakistan People’s Party was ruling Sindh for the last 10 years but remained fail to make any progress in the province. The minister also grilled PTI chairman Imran Khan by saying that now it was his turn to present himself for accountability. “We are going to file a petition against Imran in the Election Commission,” he said.
He said that Imran should focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as he (PTI chairman) was trying to malign the PML-N government before the election. Saad said that KP police was not as efficient as it was presented because it failed to investigate into the murder of Mashal Khan and also had not apologised to the nation over the incident at the Abdul Wali Khan University of Mardan.
“Imran is the leader of one province and he can’t be considered as national leader,” he said. On the occasion, Zaeem Qadri said that Zardari should first answer the allegations of Zulfiqar Mirza. He said that how PPP was thinking of politics in Punjab where they could not receive a single seat in local body’s elections. He said that PPP was in effort to attain life in Punjab.
The Pakhtunkhwa government remained unable to start a single electricity project while the Punjab government was working on 3,000 megawatts projects, Zaeem added. Mashood said that Imran wouldn’t be able to contest 2018 elections as he would be disqualified.