ISLAMABAD: The opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said, on Wednesday that it was going to issue a paper detailing “financial irregularities and siphoning off funds” by ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during its three years in power.
Speaking at a press conference, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb claimed that the PTI regularly threw a red herring to divert public attention from the core issues of inflation and unemployment.
She said that the “corruption paper” on the PTI, to be launched on August 17, will highlight details regarding the siphoning off of funds in public projects and corruption done in the country in the last three years of the incumbent government.
“In July alone, Pakistan witnessed historic inflation as the prices of at least 51 essential commodities skyrocketed in the month. Similarly, the government bought LNG for $15.25 per unit, which is 70 per cent more than the purchasing price of PML-N in its tenure,” she added.
She claimed that the PTI had expelled the minister who was about to clinch the LNG deal at $11 and $13 per unit, but the same was later bought at $15 and as a result, Pakistanis will have to pay $2 billion annually from its pockets.
Lashing out at the government over record imports, she added, there were talks of increasing trade deficit and they were attributed to the PML-N, adding that imports of record $16 billion have been witnessed in July, while 40pc devaluation of Pakistani rupee was seen last month.
She also claimed that the IMF programme had failed, saying the government had not signed an agreement with it after the budget. She said that if they did not accept the IMF conditions, forthcoming inflation will be damaging for the country and its people.
“Economy doesn’t get fixed through tweets, it is streamlined when you take measures to bring down prices of essential commodities,” she added.
She said only one person is responsible for all the crises in the country who is Prime Minister Imran Khan. She alleged that PM Khan made policies for his ’ATMs and mafias’, as they help him buy votes in elections.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said her party would hold daily pressers to expose PTI’s malpractices. She rejected reports of various intra-party narratives on public issues, saying the stance of Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif were quite clear and their narrative was all about giving respect to the Constitution and the vote. She lamented that the government threw diversions to mislead the public and hide its own “incompetence” under the garb of alleged divisions within the opposition party.
“Imran Khan is now seeking apology from Shehbaz Sharif, admitting he falsely accused him of corruption. No reply was filed in the court for four years about alleged offer of Rs10 billion by Shehbaz during Panama Leaks probe. They are now asking Shehbaz to withdraw the case,” she claimed.
She challenged Shahzad Akbar, the adviser to the prime minister on accountability, to hold a presser on the Broadsheet case and apprise people of the money that will be paid to the court from the taxpayers’ money.
She also said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had announced a rally in Karachi on August 13, adding that it had been postponed due to Covid-19 and a new date will be announced shortly.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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