Premier, Opposition Leader enjoy constitutional right of consultation on appointment of Caretaker PM: Marriyum Aurangzeb

ISLAMABAD, July 28 (SABAH): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has said that prime minister and opposition leader enjoy constitutional right of consultation on the appointment of caretaker prime minister.

Marriyum Aurangzeb expressed these views during in an interview with a private TV channel here. She further said that during 14 months, Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif took every decision by constituting the committee of coalition parties and added that no such incident reported during 14 months period that coalition was broken or spoiled. 

“I am of the view that coming into power was a bold step while Allah Almighty supported us which is why we remained successful. We passed the past 14 months successfully. Always, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took the country out of crisis,” she remarked.

She made it clear, “I don’t know about the date but it is clear that we will dissolve assembly ahead of completing our constitutional tenure. He who will be voted by the masses of Pakistan would win the polls. We will not stop RTS.”

She explained, “No notification of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was issued with regards to not using Imran Khan’s name. I use name of Imran Khan in every press talk.”

She further said, “PEMRA is an autonomous body. It does not fall under her jurisdiction. Who am I to impose restrictions on Imran Khan or some body else. We have converted the previous black law of PEMRA into Amendment Act 2023 so that no one could curb freedom of expression while benefiting from the black law.”

“In the light of PEMRA’s laws 2015, all the powers were with the chairman of PEMRA but it is not so in the new law. In the previous law, chairman PEMRA could restrict any program as was done with the Mariam Nawaz Sharif’s interview,” she noted.

She further said, “In the new law he has no powers to stop program of any channel. We have made a committee which contains 12 members wherein four would be government while eight would be private members. This has been carried out in the light of verdicts of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.”

Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the government would appoint the private members in a transparent manner while punishment for misinformation and disinformation has been fixed at one million rupees while there is no punishment or arrest and added this law has been put in place everywhere in the world.

She said, “Fake news is a phenomenon across the world. Some countries have framed stringent laws on this matter but some countries made soft laws and that their laws also don’t allow fake dissemination of information. It took 11 months to put in place PEMRA Amendment Act.”

Marriyum Aurangzeb maintained that Imran Riaz Khan is a Pakistani citizen and he is missing which is why it is responsibility of all of us to get him recovered. “IG Punjab Police briefed Chief Justice Lahore High court about Imran Riaz Khan. No court verdict emerged in this regard. Might be he is cognizant of his whereabouts,” she added.