ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said Thursday that they had proposed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to give a presentation to GHQ, Supreme Court and Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry regarding the state of economy.
“The stakeholders should know that at what condition the economy was handed over to the coalition government,” Ahsan Iqbal said while a addressing a press conference here. We have proposed the prime minister that Secretary Finance should brief GHQ, Supreme Court of Pakistan, and FPCCI, the minister added.
In reply to a query on talks with IMF the minister said there was a pause in the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but it did not mean that the talks had failed. The reason behind pause in the discussions with the IMF was that the government did not want to put further burden on the common man already hit by the inflation. “We will not put the unbearable burden of inflation left behind by Imran Khan on our own shoulder otherwise we will become zero,’” he said.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had exposed the country to a default like situation, Ahsan Iqbal said adding that “we will not let Pakistan go on default.”
The minister said that the government was committed to bring the country out of economic crisis by taking strong reforms measures. “We will try to find the solution and I am sure we will find it, there is no such problem, we will sail this hard time through difficult decisions,” he added.
The government is taking some times in making the decision as it wants to transfer minimum burden to common people already hit by inflation, the minister said. The developmental budget during fiscal 2021-22 was reduced to Rs 480bn only. National Highway Authority was asking for Rs460bn but it was provided with only Rs 91b.
“Imran Khan is tried, tested and failed leader. Any PTI scholar or economic manager should tell that why the exchequer is empty. “As a planning minister I have to say that during the past 75 years it is happening for the first time that to control the destruction done by Imran Niazi the finance division has made zero releases for the fourth quarter for development projects,”. “I have never heard that in final quarter there was zero release for the development projects, as the finance division was trying to control the fiscal deficit therefore no release was made to the development projects,” he added.
Even after four years, the former PM is unable to tell what he had done in four years, Ahsan Iqbal said. “We have atomic bomb and the country with atomic power can never be a slave, rather you have pushed the country into slavery by taking the huge debt,” the minister said. “You have increased Pakistan indebtedness you have decreased the country’s sovereignty,” he added.
Also, Ahsan Iqbal said that the incumbent government will ‘rectify’ all the laws, including Kulbhushan Jadhav law, made by the previous government and which was opposed by the party when it was an opposition. On the roads of Islamabad Imran Khan has presented scenes of confrontational politics which has dented the country’s image on international level, Ahsan Iqbal said. The minister said that the nation is asking about the motives of the Dharna. Whenever there was an event of certain national interest, Imran Khan started such an activity that support Pakistan’s enemy.