Govt duty-bound to protect people, says Firdous – Pakistan

LAHORE: Peaceful protest is a right of Maulana (Fazlur Rehman), but the government also has a duty to protect people's lives and property and any attempt to cross that line will attract a (administrative) reaction, says the Special Assistant of the Prime Minister of Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan.

Addressing the media at the State Guest House here on Saturday, he said the government was "closely watching" every movement of the JUI chief and would respond effectively if necessary.

"We will decide the answer when crossing the Rubicon, but destabilization would not be allowed."

The special assistant questioned the logic of what she called spreading chaos: “Certainly, they are not altruistic reasons that lead the head of the JUI, but frustration for being out of power. Any administrative or political chaos at this juncture (referring to the Kashmir crisis) hardly makes sense, ”he said.

Continuing with his mockery of political opponents, he said Maulana and other parties were playing "cat and mouse" between them. "Others are trying to use it to save their own skin and evade the accountability process and the JUI chief is trying to get his support to spread the chaos." Those who equate Maulana Fazl's planned sit-in with Imran Khan's Dharna (in 2014) should realize that Khan exhausted all other options before making the final jump. The JUI boss, however, is jumping to sit. The PTI sitting was also for "the rule of law, the autonomy of institutions and the end of corruption," not to save the corrupt or create chaos, he said.

The JUI chief, he said, was best known for using politics and religious cards for personal gain, and the government, especially Prime Minister Imran Khan, knew that very well. He is in it again. The young children of the seminars would be used for political purposes, which is unfortunate, he said.

“Instead of supporting the cause of cashmere in the hour of need, the Opposition is trying to stoke the chaos. Those who used the name of religion for the first time to gain power and failed are now trying to use it to save the corrupt; they failed on the first attempt and were destined to fail also on the second, ”he said.

Dispelling the impression of change in his ministerial position, he said that although it was a constitutional prerogative of the captain to select and assign the role to his players, he was not being changed. He also said that Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, was not fired as a media section states. "His contract had expired and the replacement was due," he said.

Counting other successes of his government, he said the economy was stabilizing now and that corrective measures were now working. The revolutionary steps in the agricultural sector are now also proving to be good for the sector.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will leave for China tomorrow (Monday), where he will not only deal with Kashmir, but also with economic issues, he said.

After the press conference, she also cut the cake to celebrate the prime minister's birthday.

Posted in Dawn, October 6, 2019