Pakistan Muslim League-N president Maryam Nawaz on Saturday shredded into former prime minister Imran Khan over the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Calling the deal between the fund and Khan as a “bad deal”, the PML-N president said that Khan took a “u-turn by breaching the clauses that the country had agreed with the global lender” and said that the IMF “does not trust Pakistan” because of “fitna” – Imran Khan.
Addressing party workers in Lahore, Maryam Nawaz further added the “coalition government had to make some decisions with a heavy heart – including increasing the prices of petroleum products – because of the wrongdoings of the former prime minister”. According to her, if Khan had “left something in the reserves, the coalition government would have provided relief to the people”.
“Continue your support for PML-N and we will get you out of difficulties. We had to raise prices today but had to do it because of Imran Khan. Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif will make all-out efforts to get you out of these crises,” she was quoted as saying by local daily Tribune.
Pakistan’s new government – led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif – had removed the price caps with fuel prices going up by up to 70 percent in a matter of three weeks.
Meanwhile, as Imran Khan was addressing a rally simultaneously in Islamabad, he lashed out at Shehbaz Sharif’s government and claimed that the nation will “not accept the imported government”. “I knew there would be anarchy that evening and people would have come face to face with the police and the rangers. The nation, the police, and the rangers are mine. I don’t want to spread anarchy within my nation. I had set out just for one slogan- imported government unacceptable,” he was quoted as saying by Pakistan-based Geo TV.
Pakistan is staring at multiple economic challenges with foreign exchange reserves drying up fast. The Pakistani rupee is reported to be at record lows against the US dollar. The country has been in talks with the IMF to revive the country’s bailout programme.
Earlier, the country had unveiled a $47 billion budget for 2022-23, aimed at tight fiscal consolidation in a bid to convince the IMF to restart the bailout payments. However, the global lender had said that additional measures were needed to bring Pakistan’s budget in line.
