-Info Minister says PM decided not to attend PCNS meet to allow Shahbaz to
attend briefing
-Claims Shahbaz had threatened to not attend if PM shown up
-Reiterates Pakistan committed to peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry on Friday commented on the prime minister’s absence from the military and intelligence leadership’s briefing on national security, Afghanistan and Kashmir to parliamentary leaders, claiming that the premier had not attended the briefing to accommodate the leader of opposition.
“The prime minister was scheduled to attend the national security huddle, but the opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif had conveyed to the speaker that if Prime Minister Imran Khan came to the briefing, he would not attend,” Fawad said during an appearance on morning show of a private TV.
Echoing the talking points from a day earlier, Fawad said the government hopes and prays that there is a peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan.”We are pushing for negotiations in Afghanistan,” he said.”
There are three million Afghan nationals in Pakistan, if another three million are pushed in, it will put a lot of pressure on our economy,” he said.
“It won’t be so easy for the Taliban to take over the government,” Chaudhry said on the prospects for peace in the war-torn neighbour. “We want that the Afghan Taliban and the Ghani government negotiate a way out.”
“We are only concerned when India uses Afghan territories against us,” he added.
“Meanwhile, we will continue to try and mediate between the Afghan Taliban and the Ghani government.” Responding to the information minister’s comments, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a statement, said: “Fawad Chaudhry is lying. He is a propaganda machine.”
The PML-N spokesperson asked how Shahbaz could deny the request when the Speaker had invited him. “Please present any official document from Shahbaz or his office” denying the Speaker’s request, she demanded. “Did Imran Khan leave the National Parliamentary Committee meeting on coronavirus because of Shahbaz?” she asked.
Meanwhile, PML-N senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi when questioned on the matter during a press conference in Islamabad yesterday, sarcastically responded: “Yes this is indeed correct. We order the prime minister on what work he has to do.”
He said Chaudhry wasn’t aware that the premier was not a part of the parliamentary committee on national security. “Did he not see his (the prime minister’s) chair empty?” asked Abbasi.
He said the information minister had forgotten that the prime minister didn’t need to attend the meeting since he had already received the briefing and agreed with it, though “if he came then it would’ve been a very good thing.”
Abbasi hit out at Chaudhry and questioned whether he mentioned who had ordered the attacks on and disruption against the PML-N president in the National Assembly during his budget speech. “Government ministers and MNAs told us that a direct message came from the prime minister to not let him (Shehbaz) speak,” alleged the PML-N leader.
