Pakistan Economic Crisis: Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is traveling to different countries across the world with a ‘begging bowl’ but none of them is paying him a single penny. “Look what this imported government has done to Pakistan,” Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said in an interview with a local news channel.
Commenting on the prime minister’s recent foreign visits, Khan said, “Shahbaz Sharif is traveling to different countries with a begging bowl, but none of them is giving him a single paisa.”
Khan said, “Sharif is begging India for talks, but New Delhi is asking him to end terrorism first (then it can consider talking to Pakistan)”. expressed a wish
Khan also criticized Prime Minister Sharif’s remarks regarding fighting with India.
Commenting on the development, India had said that it always wanted normal neighborly relations with Pakistan but such relations should have an environment free from terror and violence.
Khan’s comments came weeks after Sharif’s two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, during which the Gulf emirate agreed to extend an existing line of credit of $2 billion and an additional line of credit of $1 billion to fight the economic crisis. May Pakistan be helped in dealing with the economic crisis. Rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves
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His UAE visit came after the Geneva Conference where the international community pledged to provide nearly USD 10 billion to help Pakistan rebuild from the devastating summer floods. Sharif’s government has also urged the IMF to conclude the long-awaited agreement to revive the bailout programme, as it expressed willingness to accept all four key conditions set by the global lender.
Pakistan economic crisis
Cash-strapped Pakistan last year revived a USD 6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program initially agreed in 2019, but the Washington-based global lender’s tough conditions are finding it difficult to meet. There are reports that the IMF may not release more funds under the program until the promises made by the government are met.
The IMF board had in August approved the seventh and eighth review of Pakistan’s bailout programme, allowing the release of over USD 1.1 billion.
The 70-year-old Khan further said that he was 100 per cent sure that Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and ISI Counter Intelligence Wing chief Major-General Faisal Naseer were behind his assassination attempt.
“I am now 100 per cent sure that Shahbaz and the other two whom I had named in the FIR, which could not be lodged, had planned to kill me. It was a perfect plan as three trained shooters were killed. But it was God’s will that I survived,” he said. Khan was hit by three bullets in a container truck during his party’s rally in Wazirabad area of Punjab province (about 150 km from Lahore) on November 3 last year.
“Is the Pakistan Army neutral?”
Asked whether the military establishment has become neutral after the retirement of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Khan said: “No, the military establishment is still not neutral.” Khan asked the military establishment to learn from past mistakes and stay away from politics. Khan said, “If the army continues to interfere in politics and free and fair elections are not held, there will be chaos and anarchy in the country that no one could have imagined.” Warned.
The powerful military, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its more than 75 years of existence, has so far wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy. Khan, who was removed as prime minister in April last year after a no-confidence motion was passed in the National Assembly, has been demanding fresh general elections in Pakistan.
(with inputs from agencies)
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