-Info Minister terms PDM’s protest outside ECP as an attempt to threaten national institution
-Says opposition’s anti-government movement has become a part of the past
-Sheikh Rasheed says won’t allow PDM to setup stage during protest outside ECP
-1,000 security personnel to be deployed to maintain law and order situation
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Sunday termed the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) protest outside Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office an attempt to threaten national institution.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, he said that the opposition’s anti-government movement has become a part of the past.
The minister said that they [opposition] have played all their cards but got nothing but shame and now the PDM is going to play their last card.
The PDM’s protest outside the ECP office is to pressurize a national institution, adding that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said he would appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with his entire party when he received notice from the anti-graft watchdog. “These people [opposition] want to threaten the national institutions by bringing group of people,” he said.
“Opposition parties under the platform of Pakistan Democratic Movement have united to cover up their corruption they done in the past,” he said and added the people of Pakistan have rejected the opposition s narrative.
The federal minister further added that now these parties are coming to stage a protest demonstration outside ECP just to intimidate and pressurize institutions. He urged PDM to submit record of their foreign funding instead of misleading the people through demonstrations.
He said that the ruling PTI has submitted record of donations it received from workers and sympathizers abroad to ECP s scrutiny committee. He said that record of 40,000 notarized and authenticated transactions undertaken through proper banking channels has been submitted to the ECP.
The minister asked opposition parties to submit record of their foreign funding to the Election Commission of Pakistan instead of pressurizing and intimidating state institutions.
“Pakistan People s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) are reluctant to submit record of donations worth billions of rupees to ECP s scrutiny committee.
Speaking on the occasion, Railways Parliamentary Secretary Farrukh Habib said that ECP has issued three different orders asking the PML-N, the PPP, and the JUI-F to submit record of their funding, but to no avail.
He said PML-N has shown a media expenditure of 700 million rupees and they have to tell the ECP, on which media house, they have spent this huge amount. Similarly, six million dollars were paid from national exchequer to US lobbyist Mark Siegel by the PPP government in past.
The parliamentary secretary said that the PML-N is registered in the United Sates and the United Kingdom and asked as when it will give record of its fundraising in these countries.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad convened an important meeting to mull regarding suggestions aimed at dealing with the protest of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) outside the ECP office in Islamabad.
“The red zone will remain a container-free zone and the PDM will not be allowed to setup a stage for their protest,” they said adding that it was further suggested that the opposition should not be allowed to bring tents and loudspeakers with them.
The meeting convened by Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad will also mull over a diversion traffic plan for the traffic moving towards the red zone area. The security for the PDM power show outside the ECP would be supervised by SSP Operations Mustafa Tanveer.
It has been further decided that the Islamabad administration would meet with the opposition members to get information regarding the timing and schedule of their protest.
A meeting between the ECP team and opposition parties would also be arranged during the protest.
It is pertinent to mention here that the opposition alliance has announced to stage a protest outside the ECP office in Islamabad on January 19 (Tuesday).
According to details the PTI-led government has decided to deploy 1,000 security personnel for the protest.
