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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is the most popular leader in Pakistan as the people who voted him to power are still his ardent supporters
“Even in next general elections, Imran Khan would get the majority votes and be the prime minister for another tenure,” he said, while speaking during BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’ programme with host Stephen Sackur.
Responding to a question, he cautioned not to undermine the elected government of Pakistan as Prime Minister Imran Khan received millions of votes in the last general elections.
“I would say Imran Khan is one of the most popular prime ministers of Pakistan. He received more than 200 million votes. He and the cabinet take all the decisions.”
“We have a very good relationship with the establishment, they are part and parcel of Pakistan’s system, we have huge respect for them but the decision-making rests with the prime minister and the cabinet,” he added.
He maintained that the government had due respect for the opinion of institutions but the decisions rested with the prime minister.
Sharing the achievements of the government, Fawad said at present the country’s growth rate was 3.94 %, despite the COVID-19 crisis and the country had four bumper crops this year.
He said Pakistan’s response to COVID-19 had been one of the best in the world. He quoted the remarks of United Nations General Assembly President, “Pakistan has been a good example for the world with its pandemic related policies; Pakistan has done better than any other country”.
“These words speak volumes of our successful strategy to deal with the COVID-19 situation,” he added. In response to another question, the minister said 5.5 million people had been vaccinated in the country. Pakistan was among the top 34 countries in terms of vaccinating people. “The way we are going, (we will) achieve the targets of vaccination soon,” he added.
He further reiterated that Pakistan was a great success story as far as dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic was concerned. “The partial lockdown strategy worked well. In Pakistan, the situation is far better than any other country in the region.”
Pakistan is one of the “freest states” for media
To a question, Fawad said the media in Pakistan was enjoying immense freedom, adding that “Pakistan is one of the freest states as far as media is concerned.”
He said freedom of expression was a fundamental and democratic right guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan. There were about 43 international channels, including BBC, 112 local private channels; 258 FM channels, and 1,569 print publications, and in the presence of such kind of huge mass media, how could the state be accused of intimidating the media, he questioned.
Responding to a question in regard to an attack on journalist Asad Toor, the minister said he had immediately took cognizance of the matter and a senior police officer was investigating it and those responsible for the act would be apprehended.
He said there was no justification in accusing any institution without any cogent evidence. “Such individual incidents did happen everywhere in the world, Pakistan was no exception,” he added.
Attacks on journalists have reduced
To another query, he said Pakistan had been fighting the scourge of terrorism as a front-line state and a number of people lost their lives in the war on terror.
“This is not something limited to journalists, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was also martyred in a terrorist attack,” he said, adding that about 70,000 people had been killed in the war against terrorism.
However, the incidents of attacking journalists, he said, had reduced after the present government assumed responsibilities under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The minister rejected the impression that laws had been passed in Pakistan to curb social media freedom. “Hate speech is a universally recognized fact that has to be curbed, all the states and organizations are duty-bound not to allow hate speeches,” he added.
He said he had huge respect for Google, Facebook, and other technology companies. “I want them to come to Pakistan to open their offices, we want to do business with them, we acknowledge their contribution for the world”.
