ISLAMABAD — Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Salik Hussain on Wednesday asserted that he stood by his claims regarding corruption in Punjab. Last week, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz sent a Rs5 billion defamation notice to Hussain for levelling allegations of corruption against her government and demanded that he retract his remarks.
I stand by it and will continue to,” he said on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’ while responding to a question about his brother Shafay Hussain being a minister in the same Punjab government he had criticised. Salik said he did not think about hesitating to make the remarks because of this connection. The PML-Q leader further said he would present evidence for his accusations before the court when furnishing his response to CM Maryam’s defamation notice.
“Making statements about dragging someone to court does not suit a politician,” he regretted, while referring to the Punjab CM’s remarks. In response to a question, Salik said he had not been contacted by any government official or PML-N after the incident; except for an earlier meeting with Information Minister Attaullah Tarar during which he explained the context. However, the latest “below-the-belt” remarks by Maryam and earlier responses by her minister worsened the row.