MULTAN: PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said his party offers unconditional support to the government on the issue of creation of south Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces if legislation is done as per the resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly.
Addressing a press conference here accompanied by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Mr Iqbal said the National Assembly could legislate on the creation of a new province only after the assembly of the respective province passed a resolution from which the new province was being created.
“A year ago, the PML-N tabled a bill in the National Assembly for creation of these provinces and offered the government support. Even today, we extend our unconditional support to the government for the legislation if it is done according to the resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly. If the government brings in any legislation contrary to the resolution, it means it is playing a game and deceiving people,” he maintained.
He said the new province should be created according to the procedure mentioned in the Constitution.
Mr Abbasi said that no single party was in a position to create a new province itself; it could only be created when all parties agreed to it. “The Punjab Assembly passed a resolution for the creation of two provinces. It can only be done through dialogue. Such tasks can only be achieved with consensus and when debate is held in provincial and national assemblies. The matter is not limited (to the creation of south Punjab province), but there is a demand of a province from Hazara, Potohar, Kohat, Sindh and Balochistan and if the PTI is sincere over this issue then a debate should be held in the assembly and all political parties should find a solution to it,” he said.
He further said that the PML-N under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif was struggling for the supremacy of democracy and the Constitution.
“The PML-N is not struggling for power, but we want issues of the masses to be resolved and the country to progress. Everybody is aware of the obstacles in this regard. The incumbent government came to power as a result of a controversial election and everyone is aware of its failure. A flood of joblessness and price hike hit the country after this government came to power and the only reason was that it is not people’s representative government,” he claimed.
The former PM said that the government was not only victimising its political opponents, but using every tactic to suppress the press also. He said his party stood with journalists and media groups.
“Mir Shakeelur Rehman has been arrested in a bid to suppress him as his newspaper is publishing the truth. First, he was pressurised to stop writing the truth and over his refusal, he has been arrested in a fake case, which was the last tactic of the government. He has been arrested in an ugly way which has no precedent. The message of Imran Khan to the media is: if you speak the truth, you will be behind bars,” he stated.
Abbasi said the party leadership was also facing the same pressure, but was not scared of jails. “If Nawaz Sharif, Javed Hashmi, Maryam Nawaz, Rana Sanaullah and others can go to jail then we all can go to jail,” he added.
Ahsan Iqbal said a war was under way between fascist and democratic forces. “On one side are forces suppressing the freedom of expression and the other side peoples’ right to rule. We have to win this war for the sake of our coming generations,” he added.Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi urged all political parties to work together for the establishment of new provinces, saying the incumbent government is not a true representative of the masses.
He said that the PML-N was not fighting for power but for the supremacy of law and constitution.
“Elected representatives of the people should solve problems of the masses. The present government came into power as a result of controversial election,” he said, adding that a single political party cannot establish a new province.
Abbasi said that the country is suffering from flour and sugar crises but government is busy in suppressing political opponents by making false accusations of corruption.
He said that sending Mir Shakilur Rehman to jail is government’s message to the media that if you air the truth then the same fate awaits you.
NAB had on Thursday arrested the editor-in-chief of the Jang Geo Media Group in connection with property allegedly bought illegally from a government entity more than 34 years ago.
“The government is so obsessed with the media that it has used every tactic to put curbs on it,” he said. Abbasi said that this is not only applicable to Mir-Shakilur Rahman and that the overall situation of the media is bad.
“His (MSR) newspaper portrays the truth. They tried to pressurise him to stop him from telling the truth. And when they failed, the government made a fake case against him,” he said.
“They (government) cannot bear criticism. All of you must have seen that they have shifted GEO News to the last numbers (on cable TV),” he said.
“What happened the day before yesterday (Thursday), I believe is the darkest chapter in the history of Pakistan’s democracy,” he noted.
The former premier vowed that in these times of distress he would stand with the media fraternity.
Shedding light on the cases made against the PML-N leadership he said: “Imran Khan has not been able to prove corruption against us, even after 1.5 years of PTI-led government.”
“They cannot scare the PML-N by putting its leadership behind bars,” he added.
Addressing the reporters, Ahsan Iqbal said that the opposition would offer unconditional support to the government if it was serious in establishing the South Punjab province.
Iqbal said that today there is a war between “fascism and democracy” in the country and the government has opted for the former.
“We cannot bear to lose this war, we have to win it for our future generations,” he said.
“The enemies of Pakistan have invested in Imran Khan and through that investment, he was imposed on the people of Pakistan,” he noted, adding: “Everyone has seen that in 1.5 years he has ruined every sector of the country.”
The PML-N leader said that if things move forward in the same way then the “country’s atomic power might be in danger”.
“The attack on media is intolerable. All the democratic powers will put their weight behind the media,” he said.
“Today thousands of journalists are unemployed because the incumbent government wants to suppress the voice of media,” he added.
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