PPP led federal government keeps lying in front of media with no regards to the. This time the battle is between the Federal Minister for Information Firdous Aashiq Awan and Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar.Federal Minister for Information has rejected the statement made by the Defense Minister that Pakistan has asked the United States to evacuate the Shamsi Airbase.
Firdous Aashiq Awan said that PPP government has no such information. She said, “No such matter ever came under consideration in the Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) to which I am also a member”.
She said that she became aware of the statement by the defense minister only through the media. She maintained that said Defense Committee of the Cabinet is right place to discuss such issues.
In another statement she said that ISPR “will be in a better poison” to give any statement on the issue of the Shamsi Airbase which left media stunned as her statement gave an impression that defense minister is taking his directions from the military , instead of the prime minister.
Earlier this week, Pakistani Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has informed the media personal that Pakistan had asked the United States to leave the Shamsi Airbase in Balochistan.
Shamsi Airbase has been given to the US to help in its fight against terror in Afghanistan in 2001. Shamsi Airbase has been used by the American for launching US drone attacks against the militants in FATA. These drone attacks are highly unpopular among the Pakistanis due to very high civilian causalities and issues of sovereignty.
Officials of the United States have also said that they have no such plan and Shamsi Airbase in Balochistan will not be evacuated. They said, “That base is neither vacated nor being vacated”. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani himself has supported the drone strikes in private meetings but due to sever public pressure condemns them in public.
This raises the question who is lying this time? Is it Federal Minister for Information Firdous Aashiq Awan or the pakistani Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar?
Issue of drone attacks and Shamsi Airbase is one of the most sensitive issues which the Pakistan currently faces and the irresponsible statements by the Shamsi Airbase Federal Ministers are only going to make the matter worse.
Pakistani Military Review has already written an article how Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had no problem in lying in front of media and parliament.
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