Like earlier moves, opposition’s no confidence strategy doomed to fail: Shibli

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said on Wednesday that the component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) lacked unity as all of them were pursuing conflicting narratives and interests.

Talking to media persons outside Parliament House after PTI Parliamentary party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said that the PDM had internal differences having no consensus as PPP and PML-N had their own interests.

He said that the PPP wanted to move a no confidence motion but the PML-N had a different viewpoint. He said that PDM had earlier announced many other steps but failed to achieve any target.

He said if the opposition moved a no confidence motion against the Prime Minister in the National Assembly it would meet the same fate like opposition’s other options, though it was their constitutional and democratic right.

The Information Minister said that in the parliamentary party meeting Adviser on Economic Affairs Hafeez Sheikh gave a detailed briefing on the economy.

The meeting was informed that when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf came into power, the country was facing a huge trade deficit and the present regime had to take tough decisions to keep the economy afloat.

The minister said that now the economy was improving because of prudent policies pursued by the government. He said that the previous government artificially controlled the dollar exchange rate which hampered industrial sector development and exports whereas reliance on imports increased.

Shibli Faraz said that the opposition has been continuously spreading negative propaganda regarding loans. He said out of Rs 11 trillion loans, Rs 6 trillion were utilized for payment of previous loans and interest payment.

Shibli said Rs.1.2 trillion were provided to support different sectors especially the disadvantaged segments of the society in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic while Rs.3 trillion were the impact of change in dollar and rupee parity.

He said that the rising dollar exchange rate increased the debt by Rs 3 trillion. He said that due to the efforts of the government ,high inflation has now been brought down to single digit from double digit which has left a positive impact on the prices of commodities.

He said now the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan have also increased , large scale manufacturing and construction sector had registered a boost whereas remittances and taxes collection have also increased.

Shibli Faraz said that prices of edibles like cooking oil, wheat and sugar have increased in the international market which had an impact on the local market as well.

However, he said that the fall in the price of LNG in the international market would also result in price fall in Pakistan.

He said that the positive impacts of improvement in the national economy have started now reaching the common people.

When asked about the upcoming Senate elections, the Minister said the government believed in holding the elections in the most transparent manner and past practice of sale and purchase of votes should end.

He said the government has sought guidance of the Supreme Court on holding the elections through open balloting.

He said it had also prepared a bill on the matter and it will be seen whether or not the opposition supports the legislation on the issue.

When asked about the Broadsheet issue, the Information Minister said an inquiry commission to be headed by Azmat Saeed Sheikh will investigate it. He said the past rulers were involved in corruption and money laundering on a large scale and this should be investigated.