–Warns Opp against ousting Senate chief Sadiq Sanjrani
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said the “opposition was breaking” and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers were jumping the rift amid an alleged rift between party President Shehbaz Sharif and Vice President Maryam Nawaz.
Addressing media talk, the minister said there was no role of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in breaking away the PML-N members because they were well aware of the future of the party with its leadership allegedly divided.
Fawad said that the PTI was not involved in any groupings, but it was the PML-N itself that set the things in motions. “There was a fight for leadership in the PML-N and the Sharif family.”
Speaking about the role of Shehbaz in the party, he said PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif had resigned from all the committees and just remained opposition leader in the National Assembly.
No one pays attention to Shehbaz Sharif in the PML-N, he claimed.
He said that Shehbaz Sharif is not a crisis leader and that leadership of the PML-N had been taken over by Maryam Nawaz. He added Shehbaz had become Fazal Elahi or Rafiq Tarar now as Shehbaz is nothing more than a figurehead.
He said that Shehbaz Sharif talked about the Charter of Economy on the floor of the National Assembly with Khawaja Asif next to him. When Maryam Nawaz rejected it, Asif Khawaja himself changed his stance to support Maryam.
He said that Maryam Nawaz had snatched the PML-N’s narrative from her uncle Shehbaz Sharif. He said that Maryam Nawaz is the one who ousted her own father from power, made him go to jail and took over the party leadership.
The minister termed the opposition attitude as immature and challenged to try to remove the Senate chairman, whom he declared government’s candidate for the slot. “They should try to do so to know how many their senators support them.”
PTI ON RIGHT TRACK OF PROSPERITY:
The political footing, strong foreign policy and prudent economic plans of the government had put the country on the right track of prosperity, he said while talking about the performance of the PTI.
The minister said that the government had paid Rs 9.8 billion in loans, which was more than the budget of Sindh province while the government was still striving to overcome the economic situation.
He said that the government remained successful in passing the federal budget for the year 2019-20 and started working to meet the challenges in tax collection target which was fixed at Rs 5.5 trillion.
The minister assured that the government will be able to improve the financial condition of the country within six months while the government also remained successful in achieving foreign policy goals.
He termed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s upcoming visit to the US as game changer. He said that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during his visit to Brussels signed various agreements, one whole chapter was on science and technology cooperation, he added.
He said after British Airways, other European Union airlines had started modifying their advisories regarding Pakistan. Prince William and Kate Middleton are also coming to Pakistan in August, he added.
Fawad Chaudhry said that the government of Pakistan will establish a COMSATS university in Kandahar and Mineralogy Laboratory in Kabul, Afghanistan.
“There were good news for Pakistan and bad news for the opposition. Now is the time for our country to rise as we will have a glory time that will make us remembering 1960s.”
