ISLAMABAD
Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has claimed that there is a pause in the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but it does not mean that the discussions have failed.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the planning minister said the reason behind the pause in the discussions with the IMF is that the government does not want to put further burden on the common man. “We will not put the burden of inflation left behind by Imran Khan on our own shoulders,” he added.
The minister said the coalition government is committed to bringing the country out of the economic crisis by taking strong reforms measures. He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had exposed the country to a default-like situation but “we will not let Pakistan go on default”.
Ahsan Iqbal highlighted whenever there was an event of certain national interest, Imran Khan started such an activity that supported Pakistan’s enemy. “On May 25, the Indian courts were set to announce decision of the case against Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik but due to the long march, Pakistan media could not highlight the issue”, he said, adding that the Occupied Kashmiris were expecting that all Pakistani leadership would express solidarity with them but Imran Khan tried to eclipse this issue.
“He (Imran Khan) is a tried, tested and failed leader,” Iqbal said, adding the PTI leadership should tell why the national exchequer is empty. He said unprecedentedly, there was zero allocation for the development budget during the final quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22 because they were trying to control the fiscal deficit.
The minister pointed out that the PTI government could neither bring even a single economic reform, nor could it complete even a single development project conceived during its tenure. “We completed dozens of mega projects in our five years’ term. Sahiwal coal power project, Port Qasim Power Project, three RLNG based projects, Multan-Sukkur motorway, 2000 kms motorways and dozens of university campuses were few of those projects,” he added.
He said the PTI government had put the country’s sovereignty at stake by taking huge debts. He said Imran Khan wrongly presented Pakistan as a corrupt country. “We are quite a normal country. We are as honest as any other country and as corrupt as any other country.”
The minister said Imran Khan is deliberately propagating the agenda of politicising and polarising the country’s institutions such as Pakistan Army and judiciary. He asked the ex-servicemen not to create anarchy in the country by supporting a certain political party.
