Says will hold a detailed briefing with the interior minister to explain “what is happening” about the entire affair.
ISLAMABAD
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry implied on Tuesday that the withdrawal of England and New Zealand teams from cricket series in Pakistan was a result of saying “absolutely not” by Prime Minister Imran Khan to the United States.
In July, the premier had categorically stated that he would not allow the US to use Pakistan as a base for its Afghan operations and the statement caused quite a stir and generated debate on mainstream and social media.
In the press briefing after cabinet meeting, chaired by the prime minister today, the information minister said that Pakistan was paying the price of saying “absolutely not” to the US, saying nations have to pay such kind of prices if they want to hold their head high, adding that this was in fact a small price to pay and proud nations keep paying such prices.
“If you say ‘absolutely not’ then it has a price that you have to pay,” the information minister said in response to a question about the cabinet’s discussion on the back-to-back withdrawals from England and New Zealand, adding: “I think the nation is ready to pay the price and tackle such challenges”.
The government’s spokesperson further said that he along with Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid would soon share details about what was actually happening and people would see how hybrid warfare and fake news were interlinked, adding that people would also see how fake emails and fake threats are created and there outcomes.
All these details along with charts and links would soon be shared with people, Chaudhry said, adding that back to back withdrawals from cricket teams have cause a loss of roughly Rs200 to Rs250 million to the Pakistan Television (PTV) alone. “We have initiated discussion with our lawyers to examine how we can take them to courts,” Chaudhry said, saying “this is extremely unfortunate thing”.
England withdrew both the men’s and women’s teams from next month’s tour of Pakistan on Monday, three days after New Zealand abandoned their tour to the country amid ‘security fears’.
