PTI govt’s deal with IMF: Pakistan will default if it doesn’t implement accord: Maryam

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz on Thursday said that “Pakistan will default if the incumbent government does not implement the previous PTI’s administration agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF)”.

Talking to reporters at the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Maryam shifted the blame on the previous PTI government for the huge hike in the prices of petroleum products, claiming that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government has not increased a single penny in petrol prices or imposed any tax on its own.

“The increase [in the fuel prices] was because of the agreement the former government of the PTI had signed with the IMF which forced the incumbent government to take such decisions because it is bound by the deal made by Imran Khan,” she claimed, adding that in the deal signed by the PTI government in 2019, it was agreed with the IMF the subsidy on petrol will be abolished or the petroleum development levy on petrol will be increased.

“As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is committed to fulfilling the agreement, we have to take steps to abide by the deal,” she said, adding that as per the agreement the price of petrol should have been Rs300 per litre today.

She further alleged that the previous PTI government did know how to run the country’s economy. “They ruined the economy and ran out of money, they risked the entire country and its economy to take loans from the IMF…Pakistan will default if the incumbent government doesn’t follow the [IMF] deal,” she further maintained.

She claimed that by saying that Imran Khan realized that his government will not survive any longer and he reduced petrol prices knowing that Pakistan can bear the burden.

Commenting on former interior minister Sheikh Rashid’s statement that Imran Khan laid landmines for the incumbent government, she said that usually the former governments use to tell about their achievements to the people, “but they are talking about the landmines they had laid for the incumbent government”.

She added that the PTI government had laid an “economic minefield” for the incumbent government, adding that Sheikh Rashid also had admitted this.

To a question about the statement of DG ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar that there was no evidence found of a “foreign conspiracy” that PTI chairman Imran Khan has been claiming about his ouster, she said that the military’s spokesperson’s statement was not political, but based on facts.

She lambasted the PTI chairman, saying that Imran Khan “was playing with Pakistan for four years, then when the economy was ruined, he mortgaged it to the IMF”.

She also criticized Imran Khan for giving the protest call on Sunday, saying that “calls for anarchy, sedition, and violence against the State will be strongly dealt with by the government”.

She also alleged that corruption scandals of Imran Khan are now coming one after another and he is shocked at the nation’s rejection of his politics.

Responding to another query about the return of former president General Pervez Musharraf (retired) to Pakistan, she said that the PML-N Quaid and former premier Nawaz Sharif did not believe in personal revenge and his statements were on humanitarian grounds.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022