Nawaz Sharif should return as Pakistan going through tough circumstances: Shibli Faraz

Dunya News

He said Shahbaz Sharif has returned to Pakistan but so far he has seen him in front of the laptop.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibili Faraz on Tuesday said that former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif should return as the country is going through tough time.

While briefing media in Islamabad on Tuesday on decisions made in the cabinet meeting, he said that Leader of Opposition in National Assembly and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif has returned to Pakistan but so far he has seen him in front of the laptop.

Senator Shibli Faraz said the policies of PML-N leadership had never been people friendly as they initiated mega projects during their regimes only to mint money. He quoted an International Monetary Fund team, which recently visited Pakistan, as saying that the projects carried out by the PML-N governments were 50 per cent costlier than those in other parts of the world.

He said at the difficult time, both the PML-N and the Pakistan peoples Party (PPP)had absolutely no care about the public as they were trying to hoodwink them with catchy slogans and statements.

Shibli Faraz said it was upto the opposition that if they were not willing to support the government at the critical time. He, however, appealed to them not to impede the government’s endeavours to deal with the virus and provide relief to the vulnerable segments of the society.

He expressed the confidence that the cases against the Sharif family members would be decided on the basis of justice and the looted money would be recovered from them.

Referring to the media talk of PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb a day earlier, the minister said she gave an impression as if an honest, gentleman and pious man had been degraded by summoning him to the NAB office and that the questions put to him by the NAB team were so easy.

The Sharifs, he said, tended to challenge the law instead of submitting before it for looting the national wealth and stashing it abroad. They made the assets at the cost of national exchequer.

He said Nawaz Sharif had settled down in the London flats worth billions of rupees whereas Shehbaz Sharif, who returned to the country, was seen in front of a laptop instead of standing among public at the hard time.

The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has listened to the suggestions given by various cabinet members, adding that he makes decision after taking everyone in confidence.

“The cabinet considered electoral reforms and the police station system,” he said and added PM wants election process to be transparent and trusted by people.

The prime minister stressed the need to reform the criminal justice system as the cases lingered on for decades. He asked the minister for law and justice to finalize the reformation process in the criminal justice system within six months.

The PM advised that modern technology should be introduced in police stations to change the “Thana” culture. The meeting was updated on the conversion of police stations to model police stations with the introduction of modern technology.

Shibli Faraz while praying for everyone’s safety said that the health system has collapsed due to the looting and plundering in the past.

He said that a meeting of the National Coordination Committee will be held in Islamabad tomorrow (Wednesday) to take decision regarding relaxation in lockdown and all four chief ministers will attend the meeting to deliberate on next strategy.

He admitted that unfortunately the reality is that prices are increased during the month of Ramazan but the government is taking steps to control inflation. The prime minister has always said that the government will take care of the daily wagers and working class.

Taking a jibe at the Sindh government, the minister said that the provincial ministers were only holding press conferences instead of working, adding that the condition of Sindh and Larkana was better 50 years ago as compared to today.

Regarding PPP’s Sindh minister Saeed Ghani’s news conference, he said the party, which used to rule the country, was now confined to just one province, because of the incompetence and anti-people policies of its leadership.

The PPP, he said, had given the slogan of “bread, clothes and shelter” and but its leaders started looting the people and one could imagine that it would now be reduced to Larkana only. The province of Sindh was much better 50 years ago as compared to its state of affairs today.

The PPP leadership’s conduct showed that they had little interest for poor segments of the society and they only wanted to gain political mileage vis-à-vis the virus, which was a pandemic for all, he added.