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- Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed says Opposition’s cases to be wrapped up in two years.
- Narrative of accountability to “become meaningless” if cases not wrapped up, Rasheed says.
- PM will recognise Taliban’s government in consultations with the regional, global powers.
In the next two years — before the incumbent government’s tenure ends — people who have looted the country’s money might be in jails, Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed said Monday, warning that the “Opposition’s problems would increase in the coming days.”
“If their cases are not wrapped up in the next two years, then the narrative of accountability will become meaningless — they can either be convicted or acquitted,” he said while speaking during Geo News’ programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath”.
The Opposition would not achieve anything when they come to Islamabad, the interior minister said, after the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had announced to march to the capital seeking to oust the government.
Rasheed pointed out that ANP and PPP — two major parties of the alliance — had parted ways from the PDM, leaving only PML-N and JUI-F as major players.
“The rest of the parties are like my party — Awami League.”
“This is a pact of people hungry to get the reigns of power,” he said, urging PDM and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to “act more responsibly”.
‘Corrupt’ politicians will be in jail
The minister for interior said elections would be different when all the “corrupt” politicians would be in jail. “The polls will be transparent.”
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would not hold any talks with the Opposition and he has left it up to the courts to decide their fate.
The interior minister reminded the PDM that they were holding rallies under the shadow of coronavirus, indicating that their events could become super-spreaders of the diseases.
The minister also warned them that someone could attack their rallies, as there have been several assassination attempts on Maulana and himself.
The Opposition is undermining PM Imran Khan, he is a reality. “I have never seen such an inapt Opposition and despite such a strong media, they haven’t done anything.”
“If they do anything irresponsible in the coming days, they will be in knee-deep crisis […] I hope I am wrong. This is the time to take the country forward,” he said, speaking about the region’s changing situation.
Rasheed said he was determined the authorities had strong cases against Shahbaz and Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz.
When asked if former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz were to remain silent, would the doors of “gate number four” open for PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, Rasheed said: “Every day is not Sunday.”
The interior minister said Shabaz was only the face, while Nawaz and Maryam were dictating the PML-N politics.
Talking about early elections, he said that it was up to PM Imran Khan to hold them. “But see, the situation in our neighbouring country is evolving and we will see what happens.”
Rasheed reiterated that Prime Minister Imran Khan would recognise Taliban’s government in consultation with the regional and global powers, as he highlighted it was “fortunate there was no major bloodshed in the group’s lightning take over of the country.”
“Had the situation deteriorated there, we would have been in trouble.”
‘No’ US troops landed on Pakistani soil
The interior minister said no troops from the United States had made their way to Pakistani land, as he ruled out the reports of American military personnel being evacuated to Pakistan.
Rasheed also mentioned that no US citizen had landed on Pakistani soil so far. “Isn’t it our national duty to help in evacuations [from Afghanistan]? The world is praising us for this act.”
“Will India give them [transit visas] for evacuations?”
The interior minister said if a new era of politics emerges in Central Asia and if the role of China, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Tukey, then Pakistan will benefit from it.
“And what is the Opposition doing? We want to go to Islamabad!” he said, mimicking the Opposition leaders and predicting that their position in the next two years would be worst than it is.
PDM renews call for ‘revolution’
The Pakistan Democratic Movement, in its first power show in months on Sunday, at Karachi’s Bagh-e-Jinnah, declared its campaign is very much alive, and called upon the people to “rise and bring a revolution”.
The Opposition alliance said it will “bury the government with a tide of people that will storm Islamabad”.
PDM chief Fazl, who was the last to address the rally, said that the three-year performance of the PTI has revealed how the government has turned the state and the people “unsecure”.
The PDM chief said that while other nations continue to progress, Pakistan “has only regressed”.
“Of course, amid all this, we cannot sit quietly and idly by. We have sworn to raise Pakistan’s ranks among the great nations of the world,” he said.
Prior to Fazl, PML-N president Shahbaz addressed the gathering, decrying how Karachi and Balochistan had long been left neglected.
Speaking of the addresses delivered by Baloch leaders before him, which centered around the province’s deprivations, Shahbaz said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his party will “stand by them to get them their economic, social and legal rights”.
He recalled how “Imran Niazi” had visited Karachi in March 2019 and promised a Rs162 billion development package for Sindh, and especially Karachi.
“And then, in 2020, when there was flooding due to heavy rains, Imran Niazi announced a Rs1,100 billion package again,” Shahbaz said.
The PML-N president said that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told him that Sindh had agreed to contribute to the package, but the province has yet to see the funds released, with the exception of a “penny here and there”.
Shahbaz said that the people are being “lulled into a false sense of security” with “false promises”.
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