- Says it is the elected people who take decisions, not the non-elected
ISLAMABAD, June 1: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has come out all guns blazing again-this time with the barrels pointed at members of his own party and government.
In an interview with a private TV channel on Saturday, the former information minister pointed to an ongoing ‘cold war’ between elected and non-elected members in the government, saying this was a major cause of friction within the ranks.
“Up till now, I believe there have been several political weaknesses in
our decisions. There is definitely a need for improvement in the decision-making. Several important decisions are taken and we don’t even get to know about them,” he said.
“At this, there is a cold war, I would say, of elected and non-elected people [within the government]. There are a lot of objections over the non-elected people. And these [objections] are worth giving importance to,” he said.
“Ultimately, it is the elected people who take decisions, not the non-elected. The decision-making should be left to the elected people,” he added.
Asked if the ‘cold war’ would continue, he said that “wars do not last that long” and that decisions regarding this should be taken soon.
In a cabinet reshuffle in April this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan removed Fawad Chaudhry from the federal information ministry and handed him the science and technology portfolio, replacing him with Firdous Ashiq Awan as the information minister.
When asked about the cabinet reshuffle, Fawad acknowledged that the change of portfolios took place at the behest of non-elected people. He also said that he faced a lot of interference from non-elected members in his previous ministry.
Fawad also disagreed with allowing Shehbaz Sharif to go abroad, and warned against letting Nawaz Sharif leave the country.
“If at this point you let Nawaz Sharif go abroad, your politics would fail.
“Shehbaz Sharif went abroad. I first said he should not be made Public Accounts Committee chairman, he was made PAC chairman. Then I said he should not be allowed to leave the country, we would be blamed. Nobody put him on Exit Control List and he went abroad. All of this affects us,” he said. -Agencies
