Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Monday said the opposition parties instead of holding a sit-in in front of the ECP should better submit documentary proofs of their foreign funding in order to avoid cancellation of their registration. The Pakistan Muslim-League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) did not heed to repeated directives of the scrutiny committee of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit documentary proofs in the foreign funding cases filed by the PTI, which might result in forfeiture of the funds received from abroad, besides cancellation of their election symbols, he added. Flanked by Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib, he told the media said the leadership of the three parties should answer to the questions asked by the ECP regarding their foreign funds instead of hurling threats of sit-ins. Both the PPP and the PML-N were trapped as they had no documents to prove their case, and that was why they were using pressure tactics and wanted to trap the PTI, he remarked. Shibli Faraz said unfortunately, the country’s political culture had changed altogether in the 1980s’. The then governments had totally destroyed the country’s moral facade, consequently the people (at the helm of affairs) no more differentiated between the modes of earnings – right or wrong (Halal or Haram) and they did not consider corruption as a crime. The successive governments of PML-N and PPP with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman hands in glove, he said, had played the key role in spreading such culture.They had changed politics into a business and in blatant disregard for moral values their office-bearers right from prime minister to ministers involved in corrupt practices. The minister said the political parties needed funds for carrying out routine activities. Prior to the entry of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) into politics, all the political parties, including the PPP and the PML-N, used to get donations from various criminals and mafias, and paid them back in kind of favours and protecting their interests after assuming power. Later, their leaders also used various accounts for money laundering and whitening their black money, he added.
Ali Ahmad
Lahore
