- Prime Minister Shahbaz urged all political parties to build a consensus on national issues.
- The PM says, “India has not gone to the IMF since 1991.”
- Said, PML-N will accept the people’s mandate in the upcoming general elections.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has once again urged all political parties to agree on a consensus charter of economy and democracy to develop a consensus on national issues to steer the country out of the crisis.
Addressing a function in honor of Danish school graduates in Lahore on Saturday, the PM said that no difficulty can hinder the country’s progress “if we all sit together and put an end to our differences”.
The PM further said that despite having mineral resources worth trillions of dollars, Pakistan’s economy has been dependent on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) bailout package.
PM Shehbaz lamented, “India has not gone to IMF since 1991, how many times have we gone.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz said the government had to “beg” for an IMF bailout package as it had become inevitable to prevent an imminent default.
He said that thought the country has successfully averted the default threat, the stand-by arrangement of the IMF should be treated as a breather to bring the economy back on the path of sustainable growth.
“Let us go [sign] A Charter of the Economy. Let’s work together on the charter of democracy,” the PM called upon all stakeholders to shun hatred to work for the betterment of the country.
‘pathetic performance’
Earlier today, the Prime Minister urged the people to consider the facts related to the pathetic and poor performance of the corruption-ridden government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) along with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has always been in the lead in mega development projects.
He was addressing a function after laying the foundation stone of various important development projects, including the 19-km-long Lahore Bypass connecting Kala Shah Kaku to the Lahore-Karachi Motorway at a cost of Rs 35 billion.
The PM said that he would accept the people’s mandate in the upcoming general elections and if the PML-N under the leadership of its supremo Nawaz Sharif got another chance to serve the country, he would restore the real image of Pakistan.
“Had the PML-N been in government during the four years of PTI’s rule, the country’s destiny would have been different,” he said.
He also questioned PTI chief Imran Khan’s claim of recovering $300 billion of “looted wealth” stashed outside Pakistan within ninety days and said the previous government did not get a single penny during its four years in power.
Referring to the Rs 50 billion extortion scam, he said, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) had investigated the issue and after an out-of-court settlement with the other party, decided to return the amount to the exchequer, but the amount did not go to the State Bank of Pakistan but went to the Supreme Court “where Niazi’s government became a party”.
“It was a great crime how the national exchequer was looted,” he said, adding that BRT Peshawar, Toshakhana, Malam Jabba, sugar scam etc. were other major corruption cases of PTI.
– with additional input from the APP
