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Monday, March 18, 2024

PM applauds ministers; Media disagrees

News Desk |

“Tweets and messages after a 10-hour meeting do not exhibit any seriousness in the attitude of the ministers”, said Mubashir Luqman, senior anchor person, and analyst while speaking to Doctor Moeed Pirzada on his primetime show “Live with Moeed Pirzada” at GNN. “I feel that some ministers will be out of the cabinet soon”, he claimed.

On Monday, 10th December, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired an important meeting of federal cabinet in Islamabad. The premier reviewed the performance of federal ministers and respective divisions on an individual level during the sitting, GVS earlier reported. Each ministry and division was given ten minutes for a briefing after which a question & answer session was held.

“Although Faisal Wada and Fawad Chaudhary are our friends if they cannot control on their tweets then they are not capable of living in the federal cabinet,” stated Mr. Luqman.

Prime Minister Khan had one-on-one interactions with each minister to discuss their respective ministries and departments and the ways and means to further improve the performance. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, the Minister for Railways, received applause from the cabinet for his performance.

Mubashir Luqman senior anchorperson of Sama TV told Dr. Moeed on ‘Live with Moeed Pirzada’ that the attitude of the ministers of PTI did not seem serious. Mr. Luqman believed that since Sheikh Rasheed did not do an outburst about Fawad Chaudhary during the meeting, the latter remained Minister for Information.” Imran Khan has a huge burden on his shoulders and people have hopes on him. If we see the performance in provinces, Jam Kamal [Chief Minister Baluchistan] has done well, and ministers of the federal cabinet need improvement,” said Mr. Luqman.

Read more: Longest cabinet meeting in history: PM Khan sets a precedent

Mazhar Abbas a senior journalist while talking about the performance of CM Sindh stated that the biggest problem in Sindh was lack of strong opposition which made it difficult to judge the performance of the government. “The law and order situation, which had been the issue of Sindh always, has been improved,” said Abbas.

While talking about ministries he said that the way secrecies were being leagued out of ministries, it showed a conspiracy within the party.  He was hardly supposing a reshuffle in the federal cabinet which disappointed some PTI members as they were expecting that restructuring. Reshuffling had never been the habit of Imran Khan; not during the days of his captaincy in cricket.

Sadia Afzaal responded to a question about Fawad Chaudhary that he was rescued due to the silence of Sheikh Rasheed in the meeting. She agreed with Mazhar Abbass and Mubashir Luqman, saying she knew that some PTI members were even not satisfied with some ministers.

Prime Minister Khan had one-on-one interactions with each minister to discuss their respective ministries and departments and the ways and means to further improve the performance.

The members of PTI did notice the slow progress in the performance of ministers but PM Khan did not want them to believe that his selection was wrong by changing the ministers.

While Mubashir Luqman appreciated the trend of making ministers answerable, happening first time in Pakistan, he said that the ministers did not show seriousness.” Yesterday Prime Minister met with traders and today stock exchange went up” said Mr. Luqman. He further said that Asad Umar should not make tall promises when he had no capacity to fulfill them; inflation is on rising and money is going to be more devalued. “Although Faisal Wada and Fawad Chaudhary are our friends if they cannot control on their tweets then they are not capable of living in the federal cabinet,” stated Mr. Luqman.

Sadia Afzaal commented that Asad Umar was not updating PM Imran Khan about economic affairs; it was the fault of him.

Read more: What happened in the Cabinet meeting?

Mazhar Abbas criticized the role of Interior Minister Shahryar Afridi while talking about his performance. He said a lot of IGs were being transferred, Maulana Sami ul Haq was murdered and SP Dawar was abducted and killed and many other incidents reflected the failures of the interior ministry.

While talking about the conviction rate of NAB, Sadia Afzaal said that she did not agree with the 70% conviction rate of NAB as revealed by the chairman of Nab. Ms. Afzaal believed since neither government nor the opposition was satisfied with the performance of the NAB, it showed NAB wasn’t working on commands but independently Chief Minister-KP and his some companions had been summoned by NAB in Malam Jaba case also. “I do not know if it is a balancing act or independent decision,” said Ms. Afzaal.

While replying to a question about the tension between NAB and Imran Khan, Mubashir Luqman said that PM Khan had no tension with NAB, as PM and his party did not interfere in the affairs of NAB when a member of PTI was convicted, but PPP and PMLN always defended their members.

PTI’s media handling is weak and that of PMLN‘s is strong. PTI’s information think tank has to devise mature plans to lead the people,” suggested Mr. Luqman.

Talking about NAB’s cases against Shahbaz Sharif, Mr. Luqman maintained that 56 companies of Shahbaz Sharif were good enough to see how innocent and honest Shahbaz Sharif was.

“He has done corruption and he should be held accountable. I am criticizing Imran’s cabinet but it does not mean I am in favor of Shahbaz Sharif. Every person who has looted this country should be taken to task. Now NAB will make cases against media persons also,” claimed Mr. Luqman.

He also said that PTI had started accountability from them but their popularity was decreasing and they needed to revive “feel good factor” for which, Asad Umar had to play his role.

Read more: “Explain the loans”: PM Khan chairs Cabinet meeting

While responding to a question about the remarks of Aleem khan about Shahbaz Sharif, Ms. Afzaal said that PMLN never thought about the facilities and rooms at NAB when they were themselves in government; now when they are being convicted by NAB they complain about facilities.

Mubashir Luqman while responding about PTI rhetoric about corruption said that the Media Cell of PMLN could not be ignored as they were adept in defaming their political opponents as they did with Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari in the Past. “They are also running campaigns against the Naya Pakistan of Imran Khan. PTI’s media handling is weak and that of PMLN‘s is strong. PTI’s information think tank has to devise mature plans to lead the people,” suggested Mr. Luqman.