LAHORE - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid said Saturday that PTI chief Imran Khan was dodged by Brig Samson on the issue of 35 punctures and it was time now to beware and be careful of the Delilah in his own ranks.
Pervaiz Rashid quoted the Biblical phrase while referring to Imran’s confused state of mind in which the PTI chief had ascribed one story after the other to different persons. When asked about PAT chief Allama Dr Tahirul Qadri, Pervaiz said Dr Qadri was moving forward to the Aitkaf and it was presumed that a person would pray for others’ good while at Aitkaf rather than resorting to other worldly things.
“I pray that PAT chief returns safely to the country of his nationality (Canada) after sojourn in Pakistan,” he remarked while talking to newsmen in Lahore after attending an iftar-dinner. To a query, the information minister said, “No Pakistani has any right to interfere with another country’s affairs if we do not want anyone to poke nose in our internal affairs.”
Responding to a query on Zahid Hamid, the minister said that the Foreign Office (FO) was in contact with the Saudi authorities on the issue of a Pakistani citizen’s conviction.
Vis-a-vis, MQM chief Altaf Hussain, Pervaiz said , “As per my information, Altaf has adopted British nationality”. He said the government was in touch with the British authorities and information was being collected.
The information minister hailed the news items published in the international and national dailies regarding the boom in country’s economy, adding that Pakistan’s economic growth had been ranked ahead of India by the international economic journals while Pakistani stock exchange was amongst the top 10 stock exchanges of the world today.
He said today Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves had reached the highest mark in country’s economic history, adding the people, who forecast 2015 as the year of default for the PML-N government, were praising good omens today.
The minister said PML-N government took pride in the fact that economic reforms of PML-N government in 1993 were hailed by the world economic bodies and India had desired to introduce the economic model in its country.
Regarding the formation of a new political party, Pervaiz said the political parties could not be formed overnight although parties did come into being in Pakistan, adding that the formation of a political party was the right of all.
About politicians switching parties, he said PML-N had always stood ahead in terms of votes and fielding candidates in elections, adding that political birds keep migrating for gains or in search of some Ali Baba.
To a query, he said it was not the time of political gatherings and processions but performance, adding that 2018 general elections would be contested on the government’s performance while PTI had failed to deliver in KPK.
He said PML government addressed the challenges faced by the country, made Pakistan safer against terrorism and overcame economic challenges since 2013.
The minister lauded the sacrifices of the jawans, officers and the men from intelligence agencies, adding that due to the great sacrifices of the armed forces, the terrorist networks had been smashed and the striking power of the terrorists had been blunted by Zarb-e-Azb.
To a question, he said Pakistan and Afghanistan were facing the menace of terrorism, hoping that both the countries would fight against the common enemy with the same spirit.
He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain and institutions were in contact with their counterparts in Afghanistan.
The Iftar dinner was attended by veteran journalists, columnists, anchors and intellectuals including Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on National Affairs Irfan Siddiqui, Mujeebur Rehman Shami, Ataur Rehman, Amjad Islam Amjad, Ch Ghulam Hussain and others.