Deal with IMF within a few days, hopes PM

Says Imran accepted tough terms for IMF loan

ISLAMABAD     -    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said the staff-level agree­ment with the International Mone­tary Fund (IMF) would reach within a few days as the government had ac­cepted even the “toughest” conditions put by the global financial institution.

The prime minister, in an inter­view with a local private television channel, said joint efforts were being made by both his economic team and other national institutions to make the process a success.

The prime minister spoke at length on multiple national issues, includ­ing the one-year performance of his government, the economic situation, elections, Toshakhana record, party matters as well as probe into the mur­der of anchorperson Arshad Sharif.

He said at the time of assuming government, he did not know that his predecessor Imran Khan had agreed on such conditions with the IMF which he later backed out of to undermine Pakistan in the world as well as among global institutions.

“This is why the IMF is making us ac­cept those conditionalities and seek­ing their implementation. No doubt, these conditions have burdened the PM Shehbaz said realising the common man’s suffering, the government had decided to provide relief through the Benazir Income Support Pro­gramme. However, he said, the imported inflation caused by the Ukraine war also hit the country in form of increased fertiliser and oil prices.

Moreover, the floods also af­fected the national economy, and ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s “shameful” lies about re­gime change by the United Stat­ed created uncertainty, he add­ed.The prime minister said that friendly countries like China were supporting Pakistan de­spite the fact that Imran Khan had hurt their brotherly ties.

Recounting the baseless al­legations levelled by the Paki­stan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader­ship against him through local television channels as well the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, Shehbaz Sharif said the latter apologised and the UK’s Na­tional Crime Agency also ex­onerated him from the charges hurled by that time govern­ment. Asked about the ongo­ing police attempts to arrest Imran Khan, the prime minis­ter said he had been avoiding the arrest on the excuse of ill­ness or injuries. Despite using foul language against the na­tional institutions, he was giv­en relief every time.

He said during the PTI gov­ernment, the Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, including himself, Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Khawaja Asif and Rana Sanaullah, were im­plicated in false cases and made subject to inhumane treatment in jails. As regards the registra­tion of around 80 cases against Imran Khan, the prime min­ister said it was not done by him rather the cases were reg­istered by the citizens and the law would take its course.

“He is wanted by courts, not me. The arrest warrants were issued by the courts, not me or the administration. Now what will happen if the adminis­tration does not abide by the court orders?” he questioned.

To a question about the im­plementation of the Supreme Court verdict on elections, PM Shehbaz said no political party could escape the polls. Being the PML-N president, he had already asked the party men to submit their applications for the party tickets to contest elections for which he was also interviewing the candidates.

However, it was for the Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan to hold the elections, he added.

Substantiating his point on the government’s seriousness for elections, the prime min­ister said a fresh census was being held to address the res­ervations of some political parties, particularly in Sindh, and billions of rupees were be­ing spent on the exercise.

Coming to the publicizing of the Toshakhana record, he said retaining gifts by paying a spec­ified amount was a legal pro­cess. However, Imran Khan got the gift of a precious watch from a brotherly country and sold it out in Dubai and committed a criminal act of getting a fake re­ceipt from a local merchant. The record of Toshakhana was made public as per the cabinet deci­sion as well as the Lahore High Court’s verdict, he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz rub­bished the notions of any dif­ferences within the party and explained that PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz had earned the office through her tireless struggle even when Nawaz Sharif was in jail.

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