ISLAMABAD - Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman could not justify ‘his tenure of destruction’ including “corruption and incompetency” by simply issuing a white paper.
“Whether he issues white, red or yellow paper, nothing can help Imran Khan cover up his corruption and incompetency, besides the violation of the Constitution he committed during his government’s tenure,” the minister said in a news statement while reacting to the PTI’s chief remarks.
She said it was the ruling alliance which had made concerted efforts to steer the country out of economic crises created by the previous government of Imran Khan. “How can Imran Khan, who himself pushed the country into an economic quagmire which ushered in sheer poverty, extreme inflation and massive unemployment, question the performance of a government which came into power just one year ago,” the minister wondered.
She said a person who brought the country at the brink of default issued a white paper which ironically had no mention of circular debt in the power sector, which jumped to Rs 2400 billion from Rs 1100 billion during his own government’s tenure.
There was also no mention of circular debt in the energy sector which soared to Rs 1400 billion during the PTI’s government tenure, she added. Marriyum said Imran Khan had not also dared to mention the wrong policies of his government which resulted into a whooping increase in the prices of wheat and sugar that went up to Rs 100 from Rs 35 per kg and Rs 120 from Rs 52 per kg, respectively.
She said he also forgot to highlight the increase in the prices of electricity and gas which were raised to Rs 25 from Rs 11 per unit and from Rs 600 to Rs 1400 per MMBTU, respectively.
The minister said the PTI government had taken record loans of Rs 20,000 billion which was also not mentioned in the white paper. It was the coalition government which had repaid $11 billion debt in one year. No mention of the budget deficit was also found in the white paper which was nothing but pack of lies, she remarked. Marriyum said Imran Khan had angered almost every friendly country by pursuing wrong policies during his four-year rule. There was no mention of the policies which rendered 6 million people jobless and pushed 20 million below the poverty line. She said Imran Khan, who made Pakistan the third most expensive country in the world should be ashamed of him for issuing a white paper on the one-year performance of the government