Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to immediately step down and face the corruption cases in National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Spokesperson PML-N Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Khan must tender his resignation in notorious 'helicopter' case pending in the NAB, adding that the Bureau should keep him in custody for 120 days as faced by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
She said this while addressing a joint press conference along with party leaders Ahsan Iqbal, Khurram Dastgir and Saira Afzal Tarar. Criticising Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz's Chohan for his remarks that Nawaz Sharif's medical reports are normal but he is keen to go to London, she said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Punjab government has stooped so low. "Spokespersons for a selected prime minister are pretending to be more loyal and telling lies," she alleged.
She maintained that Nawaz Sharif was taken to Services Hospital Lahore and not to a cardiac facility when all five medical boards formed by the provincial government had diagnosed him with heart-related ailments. The PML-N leader maintained that the Punjab Institute of Cardiology had declared Sharif a heart patient but the provincial government kept his medical reports secret to make it a political issue.
She said that the government's wish of seeing Nawaz Sharif begging for his treatment would never be fulfilled as he (Nawaz Sharif) preferred to go back to the jail. "Nawaz refused to go to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Lahore and insisted on returning to Kot Lakhpat Jail," she added. The PML-N spokesperson said that the government has failed to deliver and has lost its credibility.
PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that his party would unconditionally support the creation of Bahawalpur and south Punjab provinces if the government brings a constitutional amendment bill to the National Assembly. His party would also support creation of Hazara as a separate province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he added. He claimed that PML-N-led administration, according to PTI's experts, had taken average daily loan of Rs 7.7 billion which has been doubled in the PTI government to Rs 15 billion. The present government is taking loans from Saudi Arabia, China, UAE and Qatar but no one knows where the loans are being utilised.
He said that the mini-budget was presented to improve the balance sheet of 50 companies and also referred to January 2018 World Bank and IMF reports that had forecast Pakistan GDP growth would be 6 percent by 2019-20. The GDP growth has shrunk in the PTI government by 2 percent, causing loss of Rs 700 billion. He said that five years reforms in energy, infrastructure and human resources have been ruined by the present government, adding because of these reforms economy was taking off. He said that present government slashed development budget by Rs 350 billion and development projects from Gwadar to Gilgit are facing delay.
He said that work on Lahore-Multan Motorway, Lahore-Sialkot Motorway and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project has been slow. He said that gas tariff has been increased by 80 percent to 150 percent. Criticising the government to take credit of health insurance cards introduced by PML-N government, Saira Afzal Tarar said the present government changed the name of the health programme with insignificant amendments.
She said that the 'Insaf Health Card' scheme was a copy of the project launched by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. She said that the it was a re-enactment of the "PM's National Health Programme" launched by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2016, adding that it was initially launched for Islamabad with the target to expand it to other parts of the country, including Punjab, Balochistan, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had declined to become part of the federal government's programme, she further said.
She said the premium of the health card was increased as neurological surgery was added in the health programme. She further criticised the PTI government for allowing pharmaceutical companies to increase the prices of even life-saving drugs by 15 percent without prior study. She claimed that PML-N government had disallowed these companies to raise the prices of drugs but they obtained stay order from courts and increased the prices at that time.
Khurram Dastgir Khan said recent reports of Moody's and Standard and Poor's are very alarming. The Standard and Poor's (S&P) has lowered Pakistan credit rating by a notch to B- as its economy slows down, growth prospects decrease, and stress on an already ballooning trade loss and budget deficit increases.
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