ISLAMABAD            -           Pakistan People’s Party yesterday said that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan was dying for power. PPP Vice President Sherry Rehman, who is also the federal Minister for Climate Change, alleged that Imran Khan was an economic hitman who destroyed Pakistan’s economy with debt, mismanagement and corruption. Senator Rehman said that Imran Khan’s mismanagement of the economy during PTI’s tenure had led to the current economic crisis. “Nowadays, Imran Khan is pretending to be an economy expert by giving lectures on how to run the economy, forgetting that he is the one responsible for bringing Pakistan to the edge of an economic collapse, as his failed economic policies brought the country to the brink of defaulting. If Pakistan’s economy was in the right direction during his tenure, he would not have changed four finance ministers in his four years in power,” she said in a statement. She added: “In Pakistan’s 70 years history, the total debt was around PKR 24,000 billion. Under the PTI government, an additional PKR 18,000 billion was added to Pakistan’s debt, increasing the total debt by 70% in just fouryears.” Senator Rehman said in the past, the previous governments had also engaged with International Monetary Fund for economic bailout and have run successful programmes that stabilised Pakistan’s economy. “However, the PTI government signed onto the IMF programme under the worst possible terms and conditions. Imran Khan now talks about importance of the IMF Programme, but he violated the agreement before his ouster in an attempt to save his seat while also creating problems for incoming government,” the PPP leader said. She said that the coalition government has saved the country from defaulting and is working diligently to steer the country away from an economic crisis. “If Imran Khan was still in power, Pakistan would have defaulted already. But the government made tough and unpopular decisions in order to save the economy. We have saved Pakistan from an economic disaster in the past, and we will do it again as well. It will take time to undo the damage done to the economy; a result of PTI’s incompetence in their four-years tenure,” she added. Meanwhile yesterday, PPP leader Senator Palwasha said gambling in cricket, bribery in donations and abuse in politics were hallmarks of Imran Khan. Reacting to PTI leader Musarat Jamshed’s statement, she said: “Musarat Jamshed should not take advantage of your being a woman.” She said PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari, had kicked Imran Khan out of the government. “Imran Khan’s next season will begin after going to jail,” she said.