Staff Reporter
Lahore
PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to solve all problems relating to media with consultations.
In a statement on Friday, the veteran politician expressed the hope that the media’s issues, especially Jang Geo Media Group’s CEO Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest and the PEMRA ban on Channel 24, will be resolved soon.
“One should forget everything else and try to solve the country’s problems,” he said. Shujaat added that information minister Shibli Faraz can play a leading role when it comes to addressing the problems faced by the Pakistani media.
The PML-Q chief spoke about last year’s JUI-F Azadi Dharna, revealing that when Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman came to Islamabad with his caravan of supporters, some people were in favour of cracking down on them hard.
“No one was willing to go to Imran Khan and talk to him [about the dharna issue],” he said, adding that people were asking each other to speak to the premier but not willing to do it themselves. He said that former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi was not even a member of the government’s negotiating committee yet he was asked to speak to the prime minister.
“Elahi met Imran Khan and advised him,” said Shujaat. “He said that if a clash takes place and any person dies, no one will be willing to take responsibility [for it].”Shujaat said that Elahi told PM Imran that a prime minister has to answer for everything, after which the decision to crack down on the JUI-F rally was delayed.
The PML-Q chief said that his party was targeted with accusations regarding the JUI-F dharna but it was due to the government’s implementation on Elahi’s ‘mutual thinking’ that the issue was resolved peacefully.
