history of slavery. i think will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history. our documentary series slavery routes starts march 10th on w. . this july and policy is of prime minister non-con has actually done that by focusing on you know the public's not buying after a very long time involved in this and more corruption scandals in the fall put out if you have to go is there a parallel justice system in your country in the next 6 months you would see a number of missing persons really busy do you think it's a 6 up to bill to intimidate the press i see no problem with the freedom of expression opposition parties in pakistan have been upping the pressure on prime minister emraan khan in a series of recent mass protests they say he's

a puppet of the military and has mismanaged the economy as inflation spiral there's also concern about the state of human rights and press freedom my guest this week from islamabad is fall watch out every pakistani minister for science and technology what has his government to achieve who's calling the shots in pakistan. mr chattery welcome to conflict zone thank you for having me it's half way through your government's charm and there is rising anger at high inflation and poor economic prospects the opposition has united they say that your prime minister imran khan that he is incapable and that he is merely a puppet of the military is he. well frankly all the positions meant in the same line it's just a non serious argument i believe. this 2 years of prime minister non-con

has actually done that died for baucus at the time when the whole world is actually struggling of the buggers on is probably the only conclude that has shown remarkable i would say that we have achieved the success that nor the country could have even imagined that by this onward we have we have successfully. we have maintained economic stability. and anything that you can imagine you know the best case scenario that you can attribute to any country in the baucus on is a is for that and that's the word has actually acknowledged by the sun for that but mr minister i'd like to ask you because let's look at the seriousness of the argument in fact let's look at the management of the pandemic on march 22nd the prime minister told the nation that the government would not institute a sweeping lockdown less than 24 hours later the military announced that the army

would oversee a shutdown and they have been orchestrating the response ever since so who's calling the shots. that's that's actually not true the 1st goal would give you some focus on appeared going to 6 february i think by this on was was i would say among the very nations that initiated. steps to secure its borders and ports in february 2nd week we actually based all over protocols at the airports the word started of to believe secondly the. refereeing there was no concept of a complete block known in pakistan and prime minister this trip guard from day one and that is the reason that in pakistan we never had complete lockdown we only had partially lock don't and actually very well managed don't. military

is part of the government and we actually need the policies of the government to have the full support of army so baucus i mean prime minister called the short and pakistan army sports mr minister you know there are members former members of the military who don't agree with that assessment in fact and i just like to turn to the statements of a retired general who says the government in fact left a big gap in its handling of the coronavirus the army has tried to fill that gap there was no choice so in other words he's saying the handling of the coronavirus crisis one of one of the greatest challenges of the past decades and the civilian government could not rise to meet it who started this this is a retired general who was quoted by the financial times on april 25th 2020 but. i'm and i retired i was listening and looking on the condition of anonymity. there's you see

a list of sort of big list statements so all business any oil any retired general is just like any other citizen or baucus on we don't know is politically if you should but forget about what border guard in the lower and you want to see is the question is that what are the results that we have we stand today the government handling of the over produce results or not the fact is that baucus on today is it has been appreciated by everyone on the bill would have and so it's not really one who said what so you have to see the consequences and what he says and by this unproved success and i have to give greater to the prime minister's policies and certainly. put he supported bugs on prime ministers because that part of the government let's move from the coronavirus crisis to the management of pakistan's economy was started a little bit earlier that the economy was doing very well but you know the assessment of the world bank is that you had double digit inflation last year they also say that your economic prospects for this current year remain below potential

tens of billions of dollars right now are being invested in the major infrastructure project that china pakistan economic or dorsey pak it's happening on your soil it's supposed to spur economic growth last year you installed a former military general to oversee it could you not find anyone in your civilian government to handle it. frankly ones are doing those that are tired as much a civilian as any other civilian and actually the human resource. we found the best which the. laws embody has served in the army but fact of the matter is that he is one of the most competent officers to handle this he knows pro and cons of this project. a long time and we would like anyone would like you know someone with hands on experience to handle such projects and that's why he was selected so sick in lee as you mentioned about the economy you see we inherited. a condo mean that

was in shambles his son was literally at the brink of bankruptcy and we stockard initiated oversteps from that very moment to do politics on the economy is far better then at the time when we are actually in their mood all day by the sun's groupies dibble by his sons but his son has turned to the i would say the biggest step of prime minister non-con is that he has actually germinated the industry in pakistan for it is box on export has touched the highest by this on. the highest at the moment we are nor we are not putting money to stabilize their dollar but it be we are actually the money is going on and mr minister i think let's turn now to $1.00 of enron calms big promises when he came into office and that is to stamp out corruption the anti corruption agency the national

accountability there on the an a b has arrested around a dozen politicians from the opposition since then how many have been arrested from their party why would anyone who would have been arrested from my party it was all have no iraqi an interest in the. record if there is any you should point out who should be arrested from a party. well let me tell you what the supreme court of your country thinks about your handling and how you're approaching the anti corruption campaign and a stinging decision last year the supreme court said that the anti corruption body the national accounts ability piro in selectively applying its laws on individuals when it detained 2 opposition politicians for 15 months without credible charge your top bar association goes one step further to say it's a tool for arm twisting of political opponents so how can you say that the anti corruption campaign is legitimate with such

a stance on it like that. so. i would like to explain this in a bit to you know you see this whole national accountability bureau the anti corruption into 2 should we have more the government has not appointed even. a lot of stuff in this you know organization from germany from the german of the knob to the very last good each and every one is appointed by the pm and then they don't know why should he or she had called are not bossy the his nominee is a prime minister all of them. despite the so the whole institution of the law itself was actually passed by a pm i learned in $1000.00 men to salman then people's party did indeed the whole organization is actually established by either because part european mainland all look this is they are charged with. not fired by us each and every key as they are

facing are actually fly by because party gives be a muslim or pm element is people's party so it is a witch hunting all investigations of this case these cases were actually complete even before prime minister to go thirdly did is the evidence against them is not all evidence where you will you know pick up someone and force him to make a statement each and every key is based on exit. documentary evidence for example leader of the opposition shahbaz sharif is behind the bars and it isn't evidence of $41.00 volumes against him each and every money he transferred out so $2.00 money laundering has been accounted for so that is nothing. it's just fashionable to see to criticize you know the process for accountability but fact of the matter is that every pakistani citizen or that holder plundered pakistan every every one more the factual because that is so maybe you can give this impression to the foreign media

. did is of witch hunting but in fact the word is everybody's on the moser dollars look this is our business model well it's a it's not just the foreign media we have to say mr minister that the european commission assessment of pakistan also raised red flags that there are very few cases of ruling party ministers and politicians that have been pursued since the 29000 elections amnesty international also points out that the crackdown has actually increased since the opposition united this this past fall they have called on you to cease using the national accountability bureau to detain critics of the government where is the accountability mr minister. well frankly suggesting that it is important that the people in the gomen travolta will be arrested for mood is a is is i don't think any one of them doug and this quote an incident in modern day i would see if that is any case against an eagle model for sure. before the court

order it would be for the mob and sure that everyone's already making a political statement. that i also appreciate that mr miss mr minister that let me ask you about one particular case i'd like to talk about one very exposed person who is seen as affiliated with your government that is a retired lieutenant general. we spoke about him earlier he was appointed head of the c pac authority he's been accused of not declaring his family's assets properly as you know. so this is the person who you trust to manage your major infrastructure project. but once i think you should have used to the allegation what i believe you should against the allegation is that he didn't properly file his wife his wife's assets the allegation is that he built businesses his family built businesses in multiple countries around the world worth tens of millions of dollars and the big question is you know you're trusting him to have this

infrastructure project at the very least it doesn't not warrant having him stand aside while you carry out an investigation to avoid any appearance of impropriety that is what the opposition has called for. i'm actually the elevation against him is that the 7 years of his brothers in the united states of america they've built companies they build companies enrich his wife shared about 13 or 15 percent of all the shares belonging to his wife so i am unable to understand that if this bill if this whole empire is built on corruption and that do in the united states of america where is the evidence to go out and if he has transferred money to united search for america from here into money laundering as usual under the new money order g m in the hole in the international and the minority regime he can easily be comprehended but the fact of the matter that is that

a position to use such kind of propaganda or loot to malign political opponents when it comes to hard evidence there actually has nothing missed and i learned this case. you know the public's not buying it the public perception is that corruption in fact is on the rise under your administration according to reporting from transparency international so since they simply aren't terribly confident in these efforts that you're speaking about right now are they. actually. know now coming to transparency international actually i believe i have gone through the report of transparency international and i believe it's a very vulgar to report and. the emphasis is and the point they have raised are actually needs a careful consideration for example there is one point of. pakistan in description index because of the lower judicial court system in pakistan and i believe they're concerned you know that you've just this is and also the revenue

departments and the police department did need to get together and obviously work out that why. people have you know the kind of they don't have fear from these systems so i believe their response international board is very right on under other hand i would like to point out there are after a very long time and by this there is nor corruption scandal at the ball put out of the of the government did is years 5 months of this government not a single scandal for a minister this is very i would say thing in pakistan because this on the country is under used to be a government of people's party and pm and then they're into and hard for him and certainly although minister would have been good for the money mr minister i'd like to move on beyond your anti-corruption campaign there's allegations of human rights abuses that have been mounting there's been recent demonstrations from family members demanding answers for people forcibly disappeared

a term used for state back abductions is there a parallel justice system in your country where security forces decide who is going to be taken. well frankly progress on has been into a situation where for example united to search of america build this whole guantanamo be there was a huge debate there and this happened likewise in spain the detention period actually gone up to 70 years so there was a drastic measures taken by the by the by the european countries by the america when the menace of terrorism if you crossed all limits and that happened in pakistan as a but no not a melissy back in pakistan you will appreciate the biggest number of missing persons was in previous. from 2 dozen 13 to 18 but didn't do one hard for years of growth of prime minister mongomery the number has actually declined very visibly

declining and i believe that in next 6 months you will see the number of missing persons will be 0 mr minister ok so you say the number of missing people will be 0 tell me because your government and this has been reported has finally decided to expedite a mic mechanism to resolve the issue but you didn't do this unprompted if you. i understand that the islamic high court ruled last month that the prime minister and his cabinet could be held responsible for these forced disappearances so why should anyone trust that action will be swift and concrete and that these families indeed will get answers. actually shift and we awards are we already bringing the law through with missing persons and the people in ward in the missing persons can actually be prosecuted so we are taking all the actions paul said look. i think of the situation has improved a lot and the number of missing persons as i said before has declined to a very significant this is

a very significant change you can anyone can actually tell you and i believe that the next few months you will see. mr minister i just like to to driver one's attention to something that you have said on the matter publicly in fact you issued a tweet this was in february where you wrote the following these mothers can protest in punjab and yet no one will shoot them after looking at their id cards but what can we do about the sorrow of those mothers whose sons are shot in baluchistan just because they are punjabi just speak about the atrocities everywhere and say you know that the color of punjab blood is red to this tweet was sharply rebuked as rubbing salt in the wounds of these individuals is this how you deal with the grievances and the questions from the citizens of your country. not thought of this there's just so. sweet i wrote a picture of the situation and this is what i'm saying i'm i'm i'm i'm not going i think that this is not my great perfect of the bad that is the job be. be

youngsters really really young boys have been killed in baluchistan by the terrorists supported by by a b a laid back by india unfortunately the punjab the mothers cannot. you know sons in baluchistan but this is the fact of the matter unfortunately india has created this situation in baluchistan the young jobbies have been killed mostly the city and unfortunately the ones of these mothers are still i mean how can you how can you describe the. describe the situational mother was going to go in that situation where his son was actually asked to come out of the bus train there like you are going to be as you incarcerate you appear to be deflecting the blame so i just like to ask you u.n. rights groups they have been calling for action in one particular case and i'd like to draw us to it that is the trade case of interest khattak human rights defender

formally of amnesty international he was reportedly forcibly disappeared and 2019 arrested by security forces under the official secrets act the u.n. says he was held incommunicado for 7 months so more than half a year he continues to be deprived of his most basic rights what does that say about the rule of law in your country and wouldn't this be a good opportunity to start with transparency and answer the un's call for an investigation. no 100 percent prime minister is very clear on that if there is any case i don't have more details of the documents you have nor i do nor work and the thing about this case but in all cases prime minister has really kept a good you clearly said that there should be nor. is without a proper legal course adopted in progress on this one. as i said in bruges on the us there is a situation unfortunately the catalyst to it is going on back by india. that

situation is obviously what is some but actually we are dealing with it mr minister let's talk about freedom of the prosody a censorship has reportedly been on the rise of journalists who paint the military or the government in a negative light have faced threats human rights watch's describes what it calls a climate of fear you were once a journalist former minister of information you think it's acceptable to intimidate the press. does not acceptable in pakistan i believe media is probably one of the most free media the world going to manage and we have been baucus on this nor. to the fact that progress on the media is very very powerful. actually many people believe there should be a strong defamation laws not here unfortunately but by those on the media. i see no problem if you say it is a very expression if you say it's free event then please explain to me why respected programs including the b.b.c.'s are to language bullets and have pulled

out of the country after what has been described a constant interference by channels under pressure from the authorities why journalists have been charges have been brought against them others describe campaigns of online hate to intimidate them reporters without borders has condemned the campaigns they've asked the government to do something about it so where's the action. when on here there's something that politicians feel is the most i feel is the most because you know when i. did everybody i feel for the was. on almost every 2nd day on something and i go to church so most of the journalists are missing or the bottom line in the glitz lawrenceville it online hate it's more than just online hate i mean the european commission in its assessment and assessment of pakistan says that the increasing pressure by security forces with the tacit approval of the government on those with dissenting views including the media this is what they're reporting about the situation that it comes from you. ok

so 1st is that i would like to spin the online here do something that every segment of the society feeds and politicians are actually the most well known but now coming to the other. area that you said can you name any journalists who have been actually intimidated by the state and by the agencies is it and these are supposedly issues that you can relate absolutely in june of 2019 t.v. screen suddenly went black during geo news interview with the former president because cable t.v. operators disconnected transmission at the military high command behest that's according to reporters without borders most of america has also reported periodic blackouts for example. we don't i don't insure there's any black oak involved it's not in boats on the sea. we have about 150 channels and the number of journalists is they can thousands so i don't see any incident you

have been not been able to name one person who has actually been intimidated by the state agencies if there is a personal case of someone like concepts and then mr minister i would say. perhaps you will believe. a justice in the supreme court who recently said in a hearing that the media in the country is not free and of the country is being destroyed in a systemic manner perhaps you will believe that statement and perhaps you can also explain to me why your prime minister has separately cried foul and said that politicians are being targeted with libelous reporting do you expect people to believe that you are really the victims here and frankly of their drugs would have lost the who hold many believe the judiciary is free and how many people how many judges have been appointed don't matter i would believe the answer would have been seem so it's actually did this report makes

a political statement because it didn't come back to haunt them and it was really unprofessional for judges to say to make such statements and everyone knew why he was doing that and what is bad known there's a case against him and obviously he has very few years there why government and others are just history lesson and of mr minister another justice on the court or great wealth and justice back here child and when he made that statement he said that judges should ideally avoid such comments but what can be done when the country itself is not in an ideal situation how how long can judges remain silent he said but what is what is your idea sure that this is make political statements. that's that's not for me to decide. ok thank you very much this is what the ice. political statement minister for our charity thank you so much for joining us on conflicts around.

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this is g.w. news lawyer from berlin tonight a landmark verdict here in germany aimed at bringing justice to syria today a german court found a former syrian secret service agent guilty for his roles in atrocities committed by the assad regime is it justice delivered too little too late but also coming up progress in the fight against kobe one team got.