Have you gone insane?
LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Ch Parvez Elahi Wednesday expressed his desire to have cordial relations with the federal government and vowed not to take any revengeful action against the bureaucracy for May 25 incidents.
Speaking to a private channel on Wednesday morning, Ch Parvez Elahi adopted a conciliatory tone towards the federal government and the civil bureaucracy saying that he did not want to waste time in reuseless fights with the central government. Also, the chief minister vehemently condemned the PTI leader Shahbaz Gill’s anti-army rants and expressed his displeasure about it. He said he had also scolded him for his remarks against the institutions.
“Have you gone insane? The judiciary and the army are our institutions and you have spoken against them?” Parvez Elahi said while referring to his conversation with Shahbaz Gill.
Parvez Elahi said that he had rebuked Shahbaz Gill telling him that it was “really bad” [to speak against the institutions]. “It is Pakistan’s army and whosoever speaks against the army cannot be a Pakistani”, he added. He, however, said that people like Gill and Talal Ch were there in the political parties.
“I have myself issued a statement and even Khan sab has spoken in favour of the army”, he said. In a separate statement, Ch Parvez Elahi went to the extent of saying that whosoever talked against the army, should be declared as an enemy of Pakistan and to the religion of Islam. He said that no one could talk against the Pakistan Army under any circumstances.
“Pakistan’s armed forces are the guarantors to safeguard the frontiers of our country and are also a symbol of our pride. Only an enemy to the country can indulge into propaganda against the army”, he said.
The CM maintained that PTI chief Imran Khan, his party and the whole nation was standing with the Pakistan Army. He denounced that PML-N was making a false and baseless propaganda. “We will not allow anyone to attain political motives by defaming the army”, he said, adding that a false propaganda is being launched from the PML-N media cell.
Replying to a question about the alleged unrest in bureaucracy which feared a vindictive action from the PTI government in Punjab, the chief minister stated in categorical terms that he did not believe in vindictive actions against bureaucracy.
He said the chief secretary had left Punjab for his own personal reasons and not because of any anticipated revengeful action.
“You can call the chief secretary and ask…. he left due to some other reason. I and Moonis Elahi sat with the chief secretary and had a heart-to-heart conversation with him. But he still wanted to leave for some other reason”, the chief minister said while refuting the impression that the top bureaucrat was not comfortable working with him.
He went on to say: “I did not appoint the IG and the CS; neither they were appointed by the PTI or Imran Khan. They were appointed by Shahbaz Sharif as Prime minister, and I owned them. I have accepted them with an open heart”.
Asked if it should be assumed that there would be no vindictive action against civil officers regarding the May 25 incident, Parvez Elahi replied: “Have we done any such action so far? I don’t believe in vindictive actions. When I became Punjab chief minister in 2002, all bureaucrats had been appointed by Shehbaz Sharif and I was under pressure to remove them. But I resisted saying it is my job; you get results from me. Let me do my work”, he remarked adding that many of the officers posted by Shahbaz Sharif were competent officers and he retained them. “Now, I have even retained ex-bureaucrats who previously worked with me like GM Sikandar, my ex-principal secretary and Suleman Ghani, the former chairman P&D”.