ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday urged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to stop using Panama Papers case as crutches for political survival.
Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court, she said Imran Khan still had time to change his negative mindset and start doing constructive politics.
She advised the PTI chairman to utilise the remaining 19 months for playing the role of a real and vigilant opposition in parliament and contribute to the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), energy and other development projects through positive criticism.
The minister strongly refuted the claims by Imran Khan about non-submission of documents in the court with regards to the purchase of London flats, saying that all relevant documents had been submitted in the court.
The minister reminded that Imran used to show the papers in front of the media, claiming that the PTI had all the proofs, but none of those papers had been presented in the court.
She said Imran’s story revolved around his claims of money laundering, tax evasion, plunder of national wealth, Maryam Nawaz being dependent on the prime minister and that the flats were purchased in the 1990s.
She said that contrary to Imran’s stance in the Supreme Court, he had sought immunity in the Election Commission, taking the position that giving details of unnamed accounts of an offshore company and exchange of gifts between him and his wife was not necessary.
Dilating on the issue of terrorism, she said the incidents of terrorism in the country had registered a tremendous nose-dive due to efforts of Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, positive anti-terrorism strategies adopted by the provinces during the last three years and Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
The terrorist attacks’ graph that touched the figure of around 2,200 in the year 2013 fell to 160 during 2017, she added.
The minister said that the operation against the terrorists under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would continue unabated until the elimination of the last terrorist.
She said the terrorists could not dent the resolve of the government as well as the people by such cowardly and detestable acts, and their unholy designs to harm and destabilise the country would never succeed.
The people of Pakistan, its valiant armed force and law enforcement agencies had rendered unparalleled sacrifices in the war on terror, she said.
The prevailing situation in the country demanded impregnable national unity, she added.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Marriyum Aurangzeb condemned the terrorist attack in Hayatabad, Peshawar.
