Govt to be soft with opp rallies, protests

[ahlam1399]

Ag AgenciesISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Friday decided to go strict on media with opposition while to be soft with their protest.Prime Minister Imran Khan had a meeting with government spokespersons.The spokespersons were also instructed that the convicted persons should not be allowed to become political martyrs.According to the sources, the meeting was held under the leadership of the premier who took them into confidence about his visit to the United States.The sources further said that the matter of a no-confidence motion against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani was also pondered over during the meeting, with the representatives apprising the PM of the statistics pertaining to the move.The government also agreed to react strongly to the opposition as well as their protests, with PM Imran issuing important directives to the state representatives.He further advised them to portray a positive image of the government to the public and directed that the accountability process should continue without discrimination.The PM noted that those involved in the corruption cases were making appearances on TV to paint themselves as political martyrs and misleading the people.The country had come out of the economic crisis, the premier said, adding that efforts were now being made to provide relief to the people with regard to basic necessities.Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the government had decided not to bar the opposition from holding public meetings and rallies.She told media persons that the decision had been taken here at a meeting of spokespersons, which was presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, she emphasised that the state and the government would fulfill its responsibilities, if they (opposition) tried to unleash unrest or disturbance in the country.Dr Awan said that the opposition parties had brought the nation to this precarious position and they should now come up with a line of action and a narrative to rectify the situation. She claimed the opposition’s bid to observe July 25 as black day had miserably failed, as the masses had already rejected them through their vote on July 25 last year. Even, PML-N, she said, failed to hold a public meeting in Lahore.The PTI government, she noted, had already taken vital measures with regard to economy and Pakistan’s image abroad as a responsibile state. She advised the opposition leaders to reply to allegations against them in the courts and added the government was ready to work with the opposition but not allow anarchy, as political stability was key to economic revival and stability.On the move of establishment of media courts, she said that it was a proposal, floated by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority for if the media owners flout the law or rules and if there is any complaint of a media worker against a media owner, it could be speedily decided.She explained that the courts were already overburdened while there were as many as 1,157 Pemra cases pending. She added media courts would benefit the media-related people while the government had nothing to do with them. She dispelled the impression, created by some quarters that through such courts, the government would try to ‘snub’ the media.Dr Awan continued that the media courts would work like the FBR’s tax courts and added that in case of no consensus among the stakeholders, the move could be put aside. She noted the related draft had been shared with APNS, PBA and CPNE for their input.She said on the recommendation of the federal cabinet, Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved recovery of expenditure, incurred personally beyond the permissible bound and jurisdiction. She added it had been decided that the former prime ministers during the era of 2008-2018 would be recovered from them and bills would be sent to them.The special assistant noted the past rulers misused the PIA like chingchi and one would not misuse it the way the national airlines was misused. She lamented that PIA drivers were made to work as their personal drivers. “The national flag carrier was made to dance to the past rulers’ tunes and its flights were re-routed 27 times and to keep Bhutto alive, PIA flights continued to be diverted to Sukkur and losses were caused to the department and the nation,” she noted.She said that PIA was flagrantly misused in a way, one would not even misuse a rented bicycle. She named Yusuf Raza Gilani, Pervaiz Ashraf and Nawaz Sharif for misusing the national airlines.Referring to former president Mamnoon Hussain, she alleged that the nation had to pay a bill to tune of Rs270 million for ‘dahi bhallas’.During briefing on PIA, the cabinet was informed, she said that from 2008 to 2018, the national airlines was used for personal pleasure and trips and to take family members to performing Haj and Umras. She added that against the international practice of 200 persons per plane, 503 people were recruited for one plane and for this, inductions were made purely on political basis and unions like People’s Union and Air League had a lead role in this connection.She said unauthorised persons continued issuing boarding passes and as many as 35 offices of PIA were occupied by unions and some 250 PIA persons were deputed to serve union office-bearers. She continued to keep Bhutto alive, 21 domestic flights were unloaded at Sukkur airport, causing Rs5.5 million loss to the department, whereas from 2012 to 2017, 50 VIP fights were operated and Rs1.6 billion was spent on them.Of these, she noted, 45 were operated from 2015 to 2017,which caused Rs954 million losses.She said when Zill-e-Subhani had heart problem, it was told here that he was getting treatment from his own pocket, whereas during his treatment in London, an apartment was declared his camp office and the PIA plane was also kept parked in London and this cost the nation Rs280 million.She also talked about how PIA plane was used even to fetch nappies, if left behind somewhere.Under the Prime Minister’s direction, a new chairman was assigned the task of PIA revival and in the last two months, it had posted Rs46 million income while in line with the Prime Minister and the government’s austerity drive, PIA expenditure witnessed 20 percent decline as well. It proved, she noted that if the leadership was honest and committed, even in the worst conditions, positive results could be achieved.She was hopeful that by next year, PIA would be able to stand upon its feet.Replying to questions, she said that there was a fundamental difference between Jehangir Tareen and Maryam Safdar, as the former was only convicted while the latter also given sentence and was on bail currently.She also made it clear that Prime Minister Imran Khan had no personal grudge or enmity with Nawaz Sharif and he had also not initiated cases against him or convicted him.She said the provincial government would decide about facilities to Nawaz Sharif and others as per the law and jail manual.Meanwhile, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the Sindh provincial government had failed to provide basic facilities to the people of Sindh as they were being denied to have clean drinking water and required foodstuff.She said this while talking to media after laying floral wreath and offering fateha at the Shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar here at Sehwan Sharif on late Thursday night.She lamented that people of Sehwan had been denied of their basic needs of clean drinking water and health facilities, adding that this is constituency of Chief Minister Sindh Sayed Murad Ali Shah and she had astonished to see deteriorating condition of this sacred town.Dr Awan said those who dreamed to have power in the centre should first provide basic facilities to the people of this sacred city.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/SW5ydSkC8cA

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