LAHORE: Interior Minister Rana Sanauallah said on Saturday that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership is ready to hold unconditional talks with the opposition.
“President Dr Arif Alvi is trying to facilitate the process of talks, if it is started due to his efforts, economy and extending relief to the masses would be on top of agenda,” Rana said while talking to media, here on Saturday.
Rana Sanaullah maintained that this was also done earlier by Parvez Khattak, Asad Qaiser, Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi however, Imran Khan did not listen to them. “What is worth of Arif Alvi before Imran, I am not aware,” he said, adding: “We are trying our best to stabilise the country’s economy but they (opposition) are trying and propagating about the country’s default.”
He said it does not matter if elections are held two months earlier before schedule. We are ready and would not only get majority in Punjab but also form its government, he said.
The minister said that Senator Azam Swati was not victim of political revenge. He (Swati) maligned the army and judiciary and not the government. “If we wanted to file cases against them [PTI leaders] or wanted to treat them how they treated us, we would have filed cases of heroin against them,” he said, adding: “Now cases are being filed against them in accordance with the law and recently, the Balochistan High Court quashed cases against Azam Swati. On the other hand, we have fought our cases for years.”
To a query, he said that the practice of filing false cases against the political opponents should be shunned. He also said that the cases against PDM leaders are being disposed of on merit. “Why the cases against the members of the coalition government shouldn’t be closed since they are being closed after litigation?” he asked. Rana said that British based newspaper Daily Mail tendered apology for filing the baseless story against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the PTI leadership should also apologize. ”Imran Khan levelled false allegations against others while he himself was involved in corruption,” he alleged.
When asked about Nawaz Sharif’s return, he said the party has requested him to be present for the next election campaign, and the former Prime Minister has accepted it.
To another query, he hoped that the institution will stand by its commitment to stay apolitical. “Army is an organised institution where an individual’s policy doesn’t work,” he said and added that it was the institution’s decision that the army will stay “apolitical”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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