LAHORE   -  The PML-N President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Mian Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said that people of Pakistan standing in mile-long queues were reminiscing about ex-PM Mian Nawaz Sharif and the old Pakistan. 

In a statement, Shehbaz said that it pained him watching the nation queuing up for sugar, flour, and petrol. He said the poor Pakistanis were getting closer to death because of this government while Imran Niazi’s cruelty and apathy were rubbing salt into the wounds of these impoverished people. The entire country was trapped in the smog of Imran’s ‘incompetence and corruption’ for over three years now. Ration Cards, queues, inflation, U-turns, lies, corruption and incompetence were the hallmark of this so-called “New Pakistan”, he said. Every single crisis in the country from flour to sugar to petrol and gas was a product of Imran’s corruption, incompetence and mismanagement, he claimed.

The PML-N President said that country was already hit by gas shortage while the PTI government had planned to increase its tariff by 400 percent. Domestic and commercial users will pay hundreds more as the government will raise cost from Rs 1400 mmbtu to Rs 1700 mmbtu, he added. This, he said, was equivalent to slaughtering the nation.  He pointed out that even at the start of crushing season the supply of sugar had not been restored which means another sugar crisis was knocking at the door at a time when it had adjusted from Rs 52 to Rs 140. The dollar was shooting through the roof at over Rs 177 and for every Re1 drop in value of currency inflation rises 14 to 16 basis points, he pointed out. 

Shehbaz said he was astounded by Imran’s shamelessness who had forgotten all about his lectures on political morality and anti-devaluation and anti-inflation sermons from the container.

 “The roar of the raging monster of inflation is resonating through every street of Pakistan that the Prime Minister is a ‘corrupt thief’. Every day is screaming the inevitable reality that if this government was allowed to plummet the country any more, it would lead the nation to its doom”, he said.