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Shaikh Waqas Akram said that the first phase of the civil disobedience movement is underway and it is targeting Pakistanis living abroad. PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
ISLAMABAD:
A sharp war of words erupted on Saturday between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after a press conference by the federal information minister.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar’s presser elicited a scathing response from PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram, who accused the government of distorting facts and politicizing terrorism.
Reacting to the federal information minister’s media briefing, Akram called it a “comedy-filled press conference” and said the official appeared “less an information minister and more a minister of entertainment and lies”.
He said that if a competition was held within the PML-N as to who could lie the most, “everyone would try to outdo the other, but Atta Tarar would still lead the field.”
“The post of information minister exists to speak the truth and inform the nation of facts,” Akram said, adding that it was regrettable that the office had been reduced to “flattery, backbiting and displays of loyalty in the court of power.”
He said that repeating lies did not make lies truth, nor could it rewrite history. Referring to the PTI government’s tenure, Akram claimed that Pakistan was witnessing a level of peace that had not been seen in decades.
“Terrorism had practically ended, suicide attacks had disappeared and the chapter of drone strikes had been closed,” he said, adding that those who now lament the return of terrorism were themselves responsible for it.
Akram accused the current ruling coalition of stealing the public mandate, forming a government with the support of 17 parties and weakening the country, the constitution, the judiciary and the parliamentary system.
He said the government is now fighting for political survival and “inventing a new baseless narrative every day.”
He maintained that almost four years had passed since the removal of Imran Khan’s elected government, during which Pakistan, he said, had been ruled by an administration that stood on a “false mandate and political engineering.”
“When Imran Khan’s government was removed, Pakistan was peaceful and terrorism was nowhere to be seen,” Akram said, adding that the current wave of militancy was the result of incompetence, flawed decisions and failed policies of the current rulers.
On the other hand, Punjab Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari hit back at X and condemned “political exploitation” of a terrorist incident.
“Shame on those who are doing politics because of a terrorist attack,” she said, adding that those who once used the bodies of Hazara martyrs as blackmail should remain silent.
She said individuals who used “vile language” against terror victims and their families should shut up.
She called the fight against terrorism a war and said the nation had defeated it before and would do so again.
She urged those who mourn Afghanistan but refuse to call terrorists by name to keep their “dark politics” away from Punjab and from people’s moments of happiness.
