KARACHI: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry while addressing a press conference in Karachi on Sunday assured the public that the government would neither turn a blind eye nor forget the inciteful speeches and threats made by religiopolitical leaders under the guise of protesting against the acquittal of Aasiya Bibi last week.
He was addressing the media here, a day after an interview to the international media in which he had said that the state’s behaviour wasn’t a cure but an act of ‘firefighting’ against the riots.
“No one should have the impression that the government will let this behaviour slide,” said Fawad while adding, “the impression that this government is weak will be removed as we take further action.”
“The way that our people’s property was damaged, the way that judges of the top court, the Pakistan Army and the government were insulted, the kind of speeches that were made; the government will not ignore or forget them,” Chaudhry asserted.
“Although the issue was resolved via a strategy, we will not forget the people who were involved,” said the minister.
“This is not a matter of religion, it is related to rebellion. Should the state ignore mutiny? The credibility of a state that ignores rebellion is questionable. Therefore, we cannot turn a blind eye to it”.
“The way the constitution, the people, the political leadership, the military and judiciary were held in contempt, it is unlikely that we will forgive it,” he added.
He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would not compromise on the accountability process as the party had come into power with that mandate.
The party would fulfill all the promises that it had made to the masses during the General Elections 2018. Holding the corrupt accountable was one of them, he said while addressing a press conference here at the Insaaf House.
By staging sit-ins, he said, hundreds of people had closed the roads at various points across the country. There were two options for the government — either to use force against the protestors or hold dialogue with them to get the roads cleared. In case of use of force, there were apprehensions of loss of both life and property, he added.
He said, “We have opened the cities without using force against the protestors under a strategy.” However, that was not the solution as no one should have any misunderstanding that all the damage done by the protestors to the public property would be forgiven by the state.
He said the government had held talks with the protestors under a strategy which should not be misconstrued as its weakness. All those involved in violence would be taken to task, he added.
Fawad said those whose properties were damaged, would be compensated.
He said the way the PTI government was moving forward, the party would surely get two-third majority in the next election on the basis of its performance. The entire nation had full confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he added.
He said Pakistan had entered into a strategic engagement with China which was a trusted and reliable friend. Pakistan would send its first astronaut to space by 2022 under the Chinese Space Programme, he added.
Separately, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Saturday, Chaudhry said that using force against protesters was not the preferred method for the government to deal with the demonstrations.
“We had two options: either to use force or negotiate with the protestors, and when you use force, people can be killed. That is not something a state should do. We tried negotiations and in negotiations you take something and you give something,” he said.