ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb ruled out any concession for PTI Chairman Imran Khan over misuse of authority during his four-year rule and threatening institutions.
“Imran Khan will not get an NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance] today,” she said while rejecting his negotiation offer based on dictations and threats to the government.
Addressing a news conference, the minister said talks with Imran Khan would be meaningless until he changed his attitude and abstained from using abusive language. “Imran Khan stated that he would hold dialogue if the date of fresh election were given in June. I am giving you the date of election today – August 2023,” she said.
Marriyum reiterated that the election date would be announced by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and its allies after the completion of their government’s constitutional term.
“Nobody will be influenced by your dictations, threats, bullying and abuses,” she said, asking Imran Khan to wait for a date in 2023 when the general election would be held in the country. “Stay at home if you want the dialogue on this issue [general election], and if you come out with arms, bullets, batons and announcement of a bloody march then there will be consequences…,” she observed.
The minister urged the PTI Chairman to abstain from further polarizing the society, and creating unrest, chaos and anarchy. “I also advise him to refrain from appearing on the TV screens in such a mental condition,” Marriyum said.
“He should better introspect as to why he had failed to deliver in the last four years when he had all the power and government offices at his disposal through which maximum relief could have been given to the masses.”
“Now his mourning of the bad performance would not make any difference as the people had rejected him and his politics of unrest, vandalism and arson,” she added.
The minister asked Imran why he wanted to come to power again after failing to fulfill all the promises he had made with the people, including ten million jobs, end to corruption, and a transformation of the country into a Madina-like state. “Why do the people trust him again when he could not construct a road and build hospitals, schools and universities while in power?” she questioned.
Reacting to Imran’s statement of returning to the power with a two-third majority, the minister said the people would never give incompetent mafias the responsibility of running state affairs again.
Commenting on Imran’s claim of peaceful march towards Islamabad lately, she said Imran could not be trusted as the “massive brutalities of his party’s 2014 sit-in” were on the record. “How can the people forget that the graves were dug at D-Chowk, announcements were made to kill the political opponents.”
Now again the people could not forget that it was Imran Khan, who announced a bloody march towards Islamabad after he was voted out of the Prime Minister House, she said. “It was Imran who had made preparations for vandalism, arson, and inflicting injuries to the policemen.”
He could not gather even 35,000 people despite dolling out Rs 3.5 million to every PTI member of the National and provincial assemblies by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for making arrangements of the long march, she added.
Marriyum said Imran Khan’s claim of hurdles created by the government was not based on reality. “His convoy faced no blockade all the way from the Attock Bridge to F-8 as he had to make over half a dozen stops to wait for the arrival of supporters, but no one turned up,” she added
The minister said his show was a total failure as he could not even hold a small public gathering at H-9 Park despite the permission of the apex court. She also lashed out at Imran for threatening the courts and institutions and said the court had already given a decision against the unconstitutional steps of the Imran-led government.
To a query, she said strict action would be taken against the PTI if it launched a smear campaign against the Law Enforcement Agencies on social media.
