MUNICH
\nForeign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Pakistan is facing the worst economic crisis in its history. In an interview with American channel CNBC on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Pakistani Foreign Minister said that the Ukrainian war and flood destroyed the country\u2019s economy.
\n\u201cPakistan can solve its problems once again by becoming an emerging economy. It is going through a period where unconstitutional measures will no longer take place,\u201d he maintained. The PPP chairman said that they had discussed the climate change in Pakistan, country\u2019s economy and the situation in Afghanistan.
\nAbout Defense Minister Khawaja Asif\u2019s statement, Bilawal Bhutto said that the defense minister was speaking in a political context. \u201cKhawaja Asif was not talking about technical but difficult economic times.\u201d
\nHe said that they were facing the worst economic crisis. \u201cA large part of the country is submerged in the recent flood water. The flood disaster is due to the climate change. The flood has changed the direction of Pakistan\u2019s economy. Pakistan is still facing difficulties and could not get out. We are negotiating with the IMF only to get out of this economic crisis,\u201d he added.
\nHe was of the view that the steps taken by the opposition had happened for the first time in history. Bilawal also hinted that Imran Khan may not have a future in politics if he refuses to follow \u201cthe democratic path\u201d.
\nBilawal went on to note that he deemed two events in the past year as significant for Pakistan\u2019s future: Imran\u2019s ouster and former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa\u2019s pledge of neutrality.
\n\u201cYou might not like the results of it [the vote of no confidence] if you are from his party,\u201d he said, \u201cbut in the course of Pakistan\u2019s history, that is a fundamental achievement that a military man has not come in and pulled out the prime minister or a court has not ordered for them to go.
\nThe democratic process has been followed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vote of no confidence that took the PTI chief out of office, Bilwal described it as an \u201cinstitutional and democratic milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Secondly, he said that the fact that \u201cthe former chief of army staff stood up and gave a speech in his uniform where he accepted that in the past the military used to intervene in politics and that that is not good, neither for the institution and nor for the country and they would like to transition away from that\u201d was a noteworthy development.
\nHe maintained that this \u201cpublic\u201d admission by the military that it wished to move from a \u201ccontroversial role to a constitutional role\u201d should be encouraged by all those in the country who support democracy.
\nWhen asked specifically if he believed Imran still had a future in Pakistan\u2019s politics, Bilawal said that while he \u201cnever says never in politics\u201d but \u201cencouraged\u201d his political rival nonetheless to \u201cpursue the democratic path\u201d.
\n\u201cThis has been my message to Mr Khan ever since he was prime minister or when he was leaving office and up until this day,\u201d he said adding that Imran would \u201cmost certainly have a future in politics if he strives to pursue the democratic path\u201d.
\nUrging the former premier to \u201cchange his protest from \u2018come intervene in politics\u2019 to \u2018everybody committing to play a constitutional role in politics\u2019\u201d, Bilawal warned that Imran would be lost to history like many before him.
\n\u201cUndemocratic forces have had their time in Pakistan\u2019s political history,\u201d he added, \u201cbut it has never been long-lived.\u201d \u201cFormer Prime Minister Imran Khan can return to the Parliament by adopting a democratic style. However, he is not adopting a democratic style which is not beneficial for him,\u201d he maintained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MUNICH Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Pakistan is facing the worst economic crisis in its history. In an interview with American channel CNBC on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Pakistani Foreign Minister said that the Ukrainian war and flood destroyed the country\u2019s economy. \u201cPakistan can solve its problems once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12240],"class_list":{"0":"post-314943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-bilawal-b"},"yoast_head":"\n