Fawad Chaudhry claims opposition plans to target military
By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 04 Jan 2023
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has claimed that the new proactive campaign by the opposition is aimed against the Pakistan military.
At a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday, he also announced that the ruling PTI will not allow its members of the National Assembly (MNAs) to attend the NA session being convened for a vote on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Fawad also said that under the Article 63A of the Constitution the speaker will reject PTI MNA’s votes casted in favour of the resolution, if anyone does so. However, this does not apply to government coalition partners such as PMLQ, MQM and GDA, he confirmed.
A similar statement was made by Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed earlier in the day.
The opposition submitted a no-trust motion with the NA secretariat on March 8 and it will be put to a vote later this month. Chaudhry indicated that a vote may be held before March 22, when Pakistan hosts an OIC conference. On March 23, the nation will be celebrating Pakistan Day.
The information minister devoted the first part of his press conference to the alleged opposition campaign against the military.
Attempt to control the army
This morning the meeting of PTI’s political committee has expressed concerns over the entire campaign being run against the Pakistan military, “and we have repeatedly warned that [the opposition] should not pollute the politics in this way,” he said.
Fawad said that the renewed campaign started with Fazlur Rehman’s statement made at a press conference after the opposition submitted a no-confidence motion against the government.
The information minister said that Pakistan Mulsim League and Pakistan Peoples Party had always tried, in the name of reforms, to “control” the Pakistan Army in the way government has control over the police.
“At the moment all of their desires are moving in this direction, and this is not a new thing,” said Fawad.
He also referred to previous episodes of civil-military tensions in Pakistan including the Memogate scandal and Dawn leaks.
The information minister played TV reports about these two issues.
He also cited Barkha Datt’s book which claims that Nawaz Sharif had held a secret meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kathmandu.
He also played the footage of an interview given by former Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahmina Janjua, who had claimed that the Sharif family was pro-India and the Sharif government had neutered Pakistan’s policy towards India.
“The politics of this schemer family does not end here,” Chaudhry said. He played a clip from Maryam Nawaz’s rally.
Independent foreign policy
The information minister said that one of the points in the no-confidence motion stated that ‘why did the prime minister criticised the European Union.’
He said that the opposition was raising objections to Pakistan’s independent foreign policy.
At the beginning of his press conference, Chaudhry also claimed that press conferences by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman belied the disappointment is facing.
Decision on Punjab later
Responding to question, Fawad Chaudhry said that at the moment the government was focused on the no-confidence motion and decision about Punjab will be made at a later stage.
