PML-N decision to replace PAC chairman vindicates Imran's stance: Firdous

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday said the PML-N's decision to change Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman had vindicated the stance of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Democracy and corruption could not run simultaneously, she said while talking to a private news channel.

Dr Firdous said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had accepted the reality and time had now proved that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) stance of  not handing over the PAC chairmanship to tainted leadership was fully justified.

She said had opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif any plan to return to the country he would not have appointed anyone else in his place.

The PML-N leaders, she said, were trying to get an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance), but they had so far failed in that regard.

It was the PTI's belief that the contradiction in the words and deeds of PML-N leadership would soon come to surface and today their duplicity had been exposed, she added.

To a question, Dr Firdous said the opposition parties, which were claiming to start an agitation, were themselves plunging in a state of disarray. For saving their ill-gotten money one of the Sharif brothers had escaped from the country while the other was trying his best to go abroad on the pretext of medical treatment.

Shehbaz Sharif, she said, got his name removed from the Exit Control List through court on the plea of medical treatment, but his pictures circulating on the social media showed that he was enjoying on the streets of London.

When the National Accountability Bureau asked questions about corruption and money laundering done by the opposition leaders, they gave lame excuses, she added.

She reminded that the PML-N had repeatedly disrupted the parliament's proceedings to get  Shehbaz Sharif appointed as the PAC chairman, but now on the contrary they had nominated another person for the slots.

She said Shehbaz Sharif's self-created drama of illness had been exposed as after reaching London instead of sharing details of his disease, he was seen shopping in malls and playing video games as per his visuals and pictures gone viral on social media.

She said finally the real faces of Sharif brothers were exposed by contradiction in  their statements and actions. They were now trying to go on self-exile on medical grounds and their efforts to hoodwink the masses had been fully exposed, she added.

Dr Firdous said the PML-N leaders were unable to justify the recovery of billions of rupees from the accounts of their frontmen.  Shehbaz went to London to try to safeguard the ill-gotten money, she added.

She said the PTI had information that Shehbaz would not return home.

To a question, she termed the ground-breaking of Mohmand Dam by Prime Minister Imran Khan a historic step, saying he had made building new water reservoirs his topmost priority.

The dams' construction would save the coming generations from water scarcity and lead to progress and prosperity in the country, she added.

Dr Firdous said Imran Khan was the first prime minister to visit tribal areas several times and showed his love and affection for the tribal people.

She said the areas where once gunpowder's smell was felt everywhere, now had fragrance of flowers. The credit for the change went to the valiant armed forces and law enforcement agencies, who had restored peace by offering unprecedented sacrifices.

She said in the past people used to be on the frontline during the unrest, but now they were being led by the leadership.

She said the tribal people demonstrated great courage, steadfastness and determination in facing the difficult times with patriotism and now they were reaping the fruits in the shape of constitutional and democratic rights, development and progress.