Lahore - Opposition parties want to drag the country behind and working on an agenda of blocking the way of progress, the ruling party is treading on, these were the remarks given by PML-N Minister for Minority Affairs Dr Ramesh Kumar while talking in a Waqt News programme Insight the other day.

The programme was hosted by The Nation Editor Salim Bukhari.

Dr Ramesh Kumar stated that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had lost popularity among Pakistanis. “Opposition is the root of all the problems. Instead of pushing the country forward, the opposition wants to drag it behind,” he said, fearing that Imran Khan would let the country down.

The PML-N minorities minister further advised the main opposition party - Pakistan People’s Party - to check its own record in Transparency International reports. Holding Sindh as the most corrupt province in Pakistan, Dr Kumar alleged that both the opposition parties - PTI and PPP - have been on an agenda of blocking the way of progress.

“The process of development should not be halted,” the minister said, hoping that the people of KP and Sindh would reject these ‘political orphans’ in next general elections.

He further urged the opposition to respect the mandate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

“The PML-N government should be allowed to complete its five-year tenure,” he added.

“Had our performance not been good, we would not have been elected by the masses to the highest office of Prime Minister of Pakistan,” Dr Ramesh Kumar said.

He also ruled out there was ‘monarchy’ in the government’s affairs.

PPP leader Haider Zaman Qureshi held that the Nawaz-led government had ruined the country. “Other than himself, Nawaz Sharif trusts nobody.”

“We have zero performance in shaping our foreign policy.”

The policies of Sharif brothers have turned our friends into foes, while the ‘Darbaris’ are reporting ‘all good’ to their ‘masters’.

Zaman held that eliminating the corruption and saving the government are two different things, as the PPP only wants to see democracy flourishing in the country.

“And for democracy, corruption is needed to be eliminated.”

He further pointed out why politicians were afraid of accountability, even as the military institutions were taking on the corrupt elements inside.

The PML-N government though shares its fancy plans of development, the PPP leader maintained, all the projects it initiated proved to ‘flop’. The government is too apathetic to public woes, and only interested in the projects involving steel and cement.

PTI leader Andaleeb Abbas said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should not make his party a scapegoat for his family’s corruption. She also criticised the government for poor management during Ramazan as the public was greatly suffering due to price hike and massive power outages.