LAHORE: Slamming the Sialkot incident, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) President Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that the whole nation is ashamed of this incident and hoped that the accused involved in it would be arrested immediately.
Talking to media on Saturday, he said the meeting of opposition parties would be held on December 6 in which the decision of long march would be taken. “The opposition would hold march against inflation; the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had never let down the countrymen,” he said. He was of the view that the government was rendering this country slave to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He regretted that the government was cutting the development programme on the IMF instructions.
On economy, he said the situation in Pakistan is very bad and it has become difficult for an ordinary citizen to live here. He said the biggest examples of economic downfall are the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Union. He said the country was heading towards an economic disaster.
He was of the view if nations confronted the economic ruin, nobody could save them.
He said currently our economy was in turmoil and it has become difficult for a common man to lead his life. “For the last three years, the government has sown the seeds of economic ruin. Though inflation has hit the world hard, Pakistan is on third position in the ranking of countries with high inflation.
Talking about loans obtained by the current government, the PML-N president said that upto June 2018, loans worth Rs30,000 billion were taken and the rate of inflation hovered between 3 to 4% in that year but subsequently the IMF enslaved the nation. He revealed that neighbouring India did its last agreement with the IMF in 1991.
He was of the view that during a period of last 72 years, we all contributed to Pakistan’s destruction but there could not be any comparison between the Nawaz Sharif government and the current government.
He recalled that Imran Khan while standing on containers vowed that he would reduce loans by Rs10,000 billion but his government has taken Rs20,000 billion loans in 39 months, he added. When the PML-N government took loans, it launched mega projects to repay the loans, we initiated 10,000 megawatt power projects and also spent on education and health sectors.
To a query, he regretted the PTI government’s billion trees project was rife with corruption. Had the PTI government’s billion trees project was successful, we would not have to face the problem of smog, he said. He deplored that in the 71 years history, the government had obtained 70 percent loan. He said that even Bangladesh’s economy was better than us.
When asked about EVM, he said that when Imran Khan was standing on the container, we also introduced reforms and took the opposition onboard.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021