Islamabad
\nIn a fresh broadside, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Monday that Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his \u201cminions\u201d took a \u201cheartless\u201d approach in the Daily Mail case.
\nPM Shehbaz received a much-awaited apology and withdrawal of each and every allegation of corruption from publishers of the Mail newspapers last week over an article by reporter David Rose that had accused him and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf of stealing British taxpayers\u2019 money.
\nThe British publication also removed the article \u2014 \u201cDid the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims, asks David Rose\u201d \u2014 written by David Rose from all platforms of Mail publishers.
\nThe United Kingdom-based publication has failed to prove the allegations levelled by its journalist David Rose in an article against the premier about the alleged misappropriation of public funds.
\nThe Daily Mail took down its article on Thursday within minutes after informing the court that it had decided not to go for the trial and decided to settle the case with PM Shehbaz and Yousaf.
\nIn a press conference today alongside federal cabinet members, the prime minister said: \u201cThey thought that if this damaged Pakistan\u2019s reputation, it won\u2019t matter. They wanted to embarrass the Sharif family no matter what.\u201d
\nPM Shehbaz said from 2008-2018, the United Kingdom\u2019s DFID provided 600 million pounds to Pakistan for flood affectees \u2014 and most of that amount was given to Punjab.
\n\u201cThat amount was spent in a transparent manner. They aimed to prove that Shehbaz\u2019s children laundered millions of rupees abroad. This is a part of the article.\u201d
\nIn the same article, it is written that Shahzad Akbar \u2014 ex-PM Khan\u2019s aide on accountability \u2014 had arranged tours for Daily Mail journalist Rose, where he showed them the condition of convicts residing in jails, PM Shehbaz said.
\nThe prime minister said when the article was published in 2019, PTI\u2019s ministers were upbeat about the publication of the article and started levelling baseless allegations against the Sharif family.
\n\u201cAnd despite it being a Sunday, DFID issued a clarification that nothing of the sort happened. It is my knowledge that DFID\u2019s clarification was delayed by six hours on Imran\u2019s directions. They wanted to slander me first.\u201d
\nFast forward, he said, as a result of the article, Pakistan was defamed, and a message was sent to the global community that they should not send donations to the country.
\nThen-home secretary Priti Patel\u2019s version was also included in the Mail\u2019s article that called for an investigation into the matter, he said, adding that following this, he announced going to a UK court against this.
\n\u201cFast forward three years, they were granted several adjournments, and I received an unconditional apology from the Daily Mail,\u201d the prime minister said.
\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t just an apology to me, this is an apology to the 220 million people and the mothers and daughters who were affected in the floods,\u201d the premier noted.
\nOn the contrary, PM Shehbaz said Imran sold the one-of-a-kind watch that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman had gifted him when he was the prime minister.
\n\u201cThis was a cheap move that Imran made by selling a watch that contained the image of Holy Kaaba,\u201d the prime minister said, adding that nobody can deny that the watch was not sold after the evidence that has come to the fore.
\n\u201cI do not use the word \u2018fraud\u2019, but this is what Imran did. The shop owner \u2014 whose receipts that PTI showed relating to the watch \u2014 has also clarified that it is not his handwriting on the receipt,\u201d PM Shehbaz said.
\nThe prime minister called for \u201cintrospection\u201d to understand how did such a person rule Pakistan, who did not only commit \u201cfraud\u201d, but hurt Pakistan on two important fronts \u2014 foreign policy and economy.
\nThe prime minister also noted that Daily Mail published an apology to him in one million printed copies last Sunday. \u201cThis is Daily Mail\u2019s timeline. This was a huge conspiracy against Pakistan, but it was Allah\u2019s mercy that it was proven wrong.\u201d
\nBerating PTI further, PM Shehbaz said that the former rulers tried to malign Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, his family, and his party by levelling baseless allegations.
\nPanama Papers case was lodged against Nawaz Sharif but he was handed down punishment in iqama, the prime minister added.
\nThe prime minister claimed that the PML-N supremo\u2019s name was not mentioned in the Panama Papers case hence the iqama issue was added to the case.
\n\u201cImran Niazi and his aides provided thousands of documents to the UK\u2019s National Crime Agency but after two years of investigations acquitted him in the case.
\nDuring the last days of his tenure, the former prime minister laid landmines for the upcoming government by not passing on the burden of petroleum prices to the consumers, the PM added.
\nTo a question about the former army chief, the prime minister said that since General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa has hung up his boots, he should be allowed to live in peace.<\/p>\n
\u2018False narrative\u2019
\nFor his part, Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar said some elements were peddling a false narrative that Pakistan was about to default or might have already reached that point.
\nProviding the data when the PML-N handed over the government to PTI, Dar said inflation was between 4.6%-4.8%, the food inflation stood at 2%, GDP growth was 6.1%, the stock market was among the best-performing markets in the world, and the policy rate was at 6.5%.
\n\u201cThese were among the core things that he received. Rs25,000 billion was the overall loan that they were handed over from the previous government \u2014 but they claimed that it stood at Rs30,000 billion.\u201d
\nDar said the PTI government would tell investors and friendly countries that it was in a \u201cdebt trap\u201d and that the previous governments were \u201ccorrupt\u201d.
\nThe senator said while telling the global community that Pakistan was in a \u201cdebt trap\u201d, the PTI government expected international investors to invest their money in the country. \u201cWho would do that?\u201d
\nDar claimed that in line with the PTI\u2019s promises, its government had to cut down the loans by Rs10,000 billion \u2014 from Rs25,000 to Rs15,000. \u201cBut that wasn\u2019t the case.\u201d
\nThe senator said during the PTI government, inflation skyrocketed, the rupee fell massively against the dollar, increased the loans drastically to Rs44,500 billion or an increase of 75%.
\n\u201cTheir government was confused. They did not have a revenue plan […] and they also pushed the country to the brink of default,\u201d the finance minister said, claiming that PTI preferred politics over the state.
\nDar said PTI installed \u201cland mines\u201d in terms of economy as they did not meet the commitments made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). \u201cThis devastated the economy.\u201d
\nBut despite PTI\u2019s bad policies, Dar said the incumbent government was quick to take move the Fund and take unpopular decisions for the economy\u2019s revival.
\n\u201cPakistan will not default. The prime minister has taken bold decisions so there is no reason as to why Pakistan will default,\u201d the finance minister added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad In a fresh broadside, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Monday that Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his \u201cminions\u201d took a \u201cheartless\u201d approach in the Daily Mail case. PM Shehbaz received a much-awaited apology and withdrawal of each and every allegation of corruption from publishers of the Mail newspapers last week over an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-300804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n