Fawad advises Bilawal, Maryam to first contest mayorship polls

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has advised Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice President Maryam Safdar to first contest election for a mayor before thinking for premiership.

He made this advice while briefing the media after the cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday.

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They could bring a no-confidence motion if they managed to save themselves from the corruption cases, but he did not foresee any such move as they would be in jail before taking the misadventure, he said.

Fawad said the opposition had made 13 abortive attempts in the past to oust the democratically elected government, and their current bid would meet the same fate.

He said it was evident from the fact that all the main opposition, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were relegated to the regions.

They were united not to oust the government, rather to hamper the ongoing accountability drive aimed at recovery of the national wealth looted by them, he said, adding it had proved the prime minister’s prediction that all the thieves would get united when the law took its course against them.

The minister asked whether Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto, Maryam Safdar or Shehbaz Sharif had the strength to overthrow the government. How those who were even unable to carry their own burden, could pose a threat to the government, he remarked.

The country’s future would be bleak if it were linked with the above leaders, who being bygones themselves had no political future, Fawad added.

He said the government wanted live broadcast of the proceedings of all major corruption cases so that the public and the media could know as to how the corruption was committed in a systematic way.

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Accordingly, Fawad said, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib would move a resolution in the National Assembly for a comprehensive debate on live broadcast of the case of Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif. It was all the more important to show the public as to how billions of rupees had poured into the accounts of low-grade employees of his (Shehbaz’s) mills, he added.