Karachi   -   Pakistan People’s Party has strongly reacted to a statement of Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who said yesterday that Sindh has long been run by ‘goons’ and PTI-led federal government will soon bring this era to an end.

Speaking to a press conference here, Chaudhry said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had laid the foundation for eradicating ethnic politics in Sindh and they will form government in this province with a two-thirds majority after winning the next general election.

The PPP led by Asif Ali Zardari did not change the picture of Sindh despite ruling it for long and it was still stuck in outdated politics. There is stark difference between today’s PPP and the one led by its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he added.

Reacting to Fawad’s statement, Adviser to Sindh CM for Information, Law and Anticorruption Murtaza Wahab said that any effort to dislodge PPP government would face a strong response from the province.

He advised Chaudhry to concentrate on the performance of his own government, instead of issuing unwarranted statements.

“The federal information minister is trying to divert the attention of people from his own party’s inability to run the affairs of country,” he said.

Calling the statement a reflection of a dictatorial mindset, he demanded interpretation of Fawad Chaudhry’s statement from Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Wahab said that Fawad should not be blamed for this statement as his political grooming happened under the dictators. The minister had the ‘honour’ of serving the dictator of recent times [Pervez Musharraf] in the capacity of spokesperson, he added.

The CM’s adviser was of view that federal government’s tactics would not succeed in diverting the attention of masses from the ‘Tsunami of price hike’ in the country owning to their policies.

‘Khan needs no outside enemy’

Spokesman for PPP Sindh chapter and former Senator Aajiz Dhamrah said that Prime Minister Imran Khan does not need any enemy if he has an adviser like Fawad Chaudhry.

“Overturning the Sindh government will be an anti-democratic act and the federal minister has insulted the voters of the province [by issuing such statement],” he said, adding that pro-democratic conduct of PPP should not be misconstrued as weakness.

PPP central spokesman Senator Maula Bux Chandio said that the federal government should refrain from adventurism in the province and the PTI should stop dreaming of derailing Sindh government.

“If any unconstitutional act is done to overturn Sindh government then it will endanger the federal government also,” he said.

He alleged that the PTI was already trying to attack the 18th Amendment which would weaken the federation.

Fawad’s tirade against
PPP leadership

Earlier, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in his press talk launched a fresh attack on the PPP and issued strong worded statements.

He said there were complaints about the Sindh government that it was employing tactics of political victimisation.

“PPP is following this course under the supervision of Zardari and it seems like goons are ruling the Sindh province, but federal government is ready to deal with it,” he remarked.

Further lambasting former President Asif Ali Zardari, the federal minister alleged that PPP leader as a money laundering tactic stashed billions of rupees in poor people’s bank accounts without their knowledge. The poor should claim the money and refuse to return it, he said.

The government is not going to withdraw any case of corruption against Asif Zardari and Nawaz Shairf as people of Pakistan had gave the PTI the mandate and “we had promised accountability”, he added.

Fawad said that on assembly floor they never quoted anyone’s name but stated their agenda of throwing the thieves behind the bars but surprisingly PPP leader Khursheed Shah left the assembly to hear it.

Talking about the religious parties’ protest across the country over the Aasia Bibi’s acquittal, the minister said that government is not going to forget the threats made by the religious parties’ leaders under the guise of protests.

By attacking citizens, damaging the people’s property, and maligning judiciary and Pakistan Army in their speeches they tried to create an impression that government is weak.

Government will not ignore or forget this all, Fawad said, adding that they were ready to take action over what happened during those three days.

Earlier, Fawad called on Governor Sindh Imran Ismail at Governor’s House. During the meeting they discussed the ways to make a favourable atmosphere for investment in Sindh, federally funded development projects, the package announced by the prime minister for Karachi and other matters.

The governor said that Karachi is the financial hub of Pakistan and any activity here has a direct bearing on the economy of the country. “There is very conducive atmosphere for investment here after improvement in law and order situation,” he observed.

He said that federally funded projects would go a long way in improving the infrastructure of Karachi. “The same is the need of the hour as despite being one of the largest cities in the world, Karachi is far behind in this sector,” he opined.

Speaking to the media persons on the occasion, Fawad Chaudhry said that in the recent meetings with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) delegation the matter of safe drinking water for people of Karachi came under discussion and hopefully work would be done started on it very soon.

The minister said that PPP-led Sindh government neither fulfils its responsibility nor allows the federal government to take measures for addressing the port city’s major matters including its infrastructure. “Each time we hear the same thing from them: ‘Stop interfering in the provincial matters’,” he added.

He said that people of Karachi have placed their trust in PTI and federal government would work for the entire Sindh without any discrimination.

 

 

 

Fake news & narratives a big challenge: Fawad

APP ads: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said fake news and fake narratives were a challenge, particularly in the presence of vibrant social media with large number of users.

The proposed Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority would also regulate social media, he said while speaking here at a panel discussion on “There is no Truth only Narrative”.

The panel discussion was part of a two-day conference on “A World of Tomorrow Re-imagined” organised by the Beacon House Schools System.

The minister told a questioner that private television channels daily broadcast a number of news as breaking ones, which later proved as fake.

He said Pakistan was an open country with regard to expression of information. “We have a very powerful media and independent judiciary.”

Answering another question, he said no one had the license to incite others for violence. Pakistanis were a self-critic nation. “We ask so many questions and also criticise ourselves.”

The minister said the social media was mostly controlled by the developed countries, which would have to realise its impact on the Third World countries.

Taking part in the discussion, Chief Executive Officer of Beyond The Classroom Education, Qasim Aslam, said, “We should teach our next generation the ways to trace the sources and learn procedures to analyse the truth about news or narratives coming to them.”

A British-Pakistani television journalist, George Fulton, said, “We analyse authenticity of narratives through two methods, either we rely on our closer social circle or we discover it ourselves.”

He said, “We learn so many things and get news from social media, especially in the time of blackout on electronic and print media.”

 

PPP warns of grave consequences if Sindh govt toppled