Some elements trying to politicise Fawad’s arrest

F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday said no political victimization had been carried out during the last nine months of the coalition government as otherwise all the entire leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would have been in jail by now.
“Some elements are trying to politicise the arrest of Chaudhary Fawad Hussain associating it with freedom of expression, but let me be clear this is not a political arrest. Rather he has been arrested in a case of hurling life threats to the ECP officials and their families,” the minister said while addressing a news conference.
She vehemently rejected the notion of “political revenge”. Action against Fawad was taken on a complaint lodged by the Secretary of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at the Kohsar Police Station (Islamabad) for threatening the ECP officials, she maintained. She reiterated that the government had not instituted any case against the PTI leaders as action against them was being taken by the institutions on account of their wrongdoings, so there was no question of political victimization.
“No politician gets happy with the arrest of another politician as it is against the spirit of democracy,” she said, urging the media and the public to understand the “difference between a political arrest and a legal one”. Marriyum said it was for the people, the judiciary and other institutions to decide where to draw a line. “If (PTI Chairman)Imran Khan or his spokespersons were allowed to abuse the institutions and then let off scot free the other political parties and 220 million people of Pakistan should also be given the same privilege.”
She said for the past nine months the coalition government leaders had been exercising restraint over the abusive language used by the “foul-mouthed” PTI leaders and took no adverse action against them on that count. The minister boasted that no bullet was fired at any journalist, nor their ribs were broken during the last nine months. On the contrary, the PTI government resorted to every step to muzzle the media’s voice.
The talk shows of those journalists, who criticized the PTI government, were off aired, and even the then information minister endorsed attacks on the newsmen, she added. Marriyum recalled that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif was disqualified for having an Iqama (foreign residential permit) as part of the political victimization, but he neither abused the institutions, nor did intimidate their heads and families.
He (Nawaz Sharif) used to appear before the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) court on a daily basis with his daughter Maryam Nawaz, but never maligned that institution, she added. Recalling the misuse of the power and state resources during the “misrule of Imran Khan”, she said on his orders, NAB and the Punjab Police raided the houses of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was arrested in her presence, she said, adding Imran Khan took revenge by making arrests of his political opponents without warrants. She said Imran Khan’s spokespersons and ministers used to announce on TV screens prior to the arrest of his political opponents.