ISLAMABAD
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has commented on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s absence from the military and intelligence leadership’s briefing on national security, Afghanistan and Kashmir to parliamentary leaders, claiming that the premier did not attend the briefing to accommodate the leader of opposition.
“The prime minister was scheduled to attend the national security huddle, but the opposition leader [Shahbaz Sharif] had conveyed to the speaker that if [Prime Minister Imran Khan] came to the briefing, he would not attend,” Fawad said while talking to a private television channel on Friday.
Echoing the talking points from a day earlier, Fawad said the government hopes and prays that there is a peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan. “We are pushing for negotiations in Afghanistan,” he said.
“There are three million Afghan nationals in Pakistan — if another three million are pushed in, it will put a lot of pressure on our economy,” he said.
“It won’t be so easy for the Taliban to take over the government,” Chaudhry said on the prospects for peace in the war-torn neighbour. “We want that the Afghan Taliban and the Ghani government negotiate [a way out].”
“We are only concerned when India uses Afghan territories against us,” he added. “[Meanwhile, we will continue to try and mediate between the Afghan Taliban and the Ghani government.”
Responding to the information minister’s comments, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a statement, said: “Fawad Chaudhry is lying […] He is a propaganda machine.
