ISLAMABAD  - Federal Minister for Information Pervez Rashid on Thursday censured Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan for alleged poor governance of his party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and purposeless criticism of PML-N.
“Imran Khan’s hatred for the PML-N is so deep that he had started hurling abuses at the state itself,” Rashid said while addressing a pre-budget seminar by FAFEN here.
The minister posed a question for Imran Khan saying “Khan Sahib when did you visit an injured soldier to inquire about his health.”
He added, “If the war against terrorism was America’s war (as said by Khan) then whose war was being fought by those who attacked mosques, military installations and schools.”
Responding to the PTI chief’s recent public rallies and criticism of government’s schemes including Metro Bus service, the minister said that Khan flew in private jets of Jahangir Tareen, he could not appreciate the idea that the poor should be provided with a metro bus service.
He accused Khan of punishing the public for his defeat in the May 2013 elections, adding that PTI would lose the 2019 election as well but he would again complain for rigging.
Talking about blocking the Geo TV, the minister said that government was not supportive of the idea and as it had opposed Registrar Supreme Court’s request to block ARY TV a few months ago.
“The decision is to be taken by the courts and no one should be declared culprit in advance,” he said and added, that if a channel had committed mistake it had also apologized which should be acknowledged.
While talking about the budget, he said that upcoming budget will be transparent and the government would not hide anything. The minister said that his government had presented the budget after seven days of taking over but we take ownership of the budget despite the fact we had limited time and the economy was in shambles.
Justifying his government’s move of paying Rs 500 billion circular debt to power producers, he said that agreements signed in the 90s, which provided power companies sovereign guarantees by the government of Pakistan.
 “These agreements were not made by the PML-N government,” he added.
He said that had the government not paid the money, power companies could have took the matter of international courts and damaged country’s image.