We will not remove air conditioner of PTI founder: Azma Bukhari
LAHORE – The Punjab cabinet on Friday approved legal action against PTI founder Imran Khan and other party leaders for propagating a hateful narrative against the state institutions. “The cabinet decision comes after Home Department submitted an inquiry which revealed that PTI members are spreading mischief from inside and outside the jail”, Punjab Information Minister Azma Zahid Bukhari told reporters in a press conference after the cabinet meeting.
Citing a report by a committee of the home department, the information minister said that PTI founder’s own people claimed he was receiving treatment similar to Sheikh Mujib’s. She stated that PTI’s propaganda asserts that Imran Khan is not allowed to meet anyone and that hatred is being spread on social media as part of an organized effort.
The minister mentioned that a GTV journalist complained that the ‘guests’ of Adiala Jail, who cost the government millions of rupees, are not allowed to meet anyone during hearings or visits. The propaganda suggests that no one is allowed to meet the PTI founder or that even a glass is placed as a barrier. This hate is being spread through propaganda originating from Adiala Jail, she added.
“Sometimes Imran Khan writes letters to the IMF, or he makes his party members protest outside the IMF office to prevent loans to Pakistan. Sometimes, venomous columns are published in the Daily Telegraph alleging that the PTI founder would be murdered, poisoned, or that his wife would be killed,” she explained.
The minister further stated that PTI even knows the color of Harpic drops. “Spreading hatred against institutions is a tradition of the party. Imran Khan is trying to become Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman by recalling the incidents of 1971. He talks about the London plan but first mentions the plan made with Tahir-ul-Qadri”.
She stated that Pakistan comes first for them, and if none of their members are involved, it does not make a difference. They are not thinking about a new revolution; rather, Pakistan is getting back on track. The economy is improving, and inflation is under control.
To a question, she said that the chief minister inaugurated a Tax-Free IT Zone which does not need to be advertised through fake social media. The eighth meeting of the Provincial Cabinet was held under the chair of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif in which numerous development projects were approved. The cabinet paid tribute to Maryam Nawaz Sharif for eliminating inflation for the poor people and the common man in three months. The cabinet minister noted that in Punjab, the price of rice has decreased by 100 rupees per kg, gas cylinders are available for 25 hundred rupees instead of 35 hundred rupees, flour and ghee have become cheaper, transport fares have decreased, prices of cement and steel have decreased while rupee gained strength against the dollar.
In response to various questions, she said that when Benazir was martyred, the PPP raised the slogan of Pakistan Khape.
Likewise, the PML-N government was toppled three times, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was removed for taking salary from his son, but the party men never indulged in anti-state activities like the PTI has been doing. “Now a party is doing terrorism and it will be dealt with according to the law”, she warned.
She went on to say: “We will not remove the air conditioner of PTI founder. The PTI is repeatedly trying to incite people which will have to be looked into by the law enforcement agencies”.
She said: “If someone sees the founder of PTI in a dream and wishes to meet him then what can we say about it?
Asked to comment on the Punjab governor’s statement that he might return the defamation bill to the Assembly for review, the information minister said that the governor should first read the defamation Law and then comment on it. “The PPP always talks about journalists. If any professional journalist does not need to earn dollars by defaming people, there is no defamation law for him”, she said.
