Pak Minister Says Finance Ministry Has No Funds For Elections: Report

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has the finance ministry of the country lacks funds for elections.. 

Asif also criticised PTI chief Imran Khan saying that his claims of an assassination attempt is a lie.

Source : AFP

New Delhi: In a joint international press conference, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif and Information Minister Marium Aurangzeb said that the finance ministry has no funds to conduct elections. 

“I am aware of the fact that the ministry of finance has said that under the present circumstances, we are going through some very tough times […] so we won’t be able to provide funds for these elections, which if you hold now on 30th of April and then in October, so you are providing funds for elections twice in a year," Khawaja Asif said as quoted by Dawn.

The media recently reported that the current situation in Pakistan is the most difficult faced by the country in the last two decades, South Asia Press reported, adding that the country, facing an economic crisis, political chaos, and a rising number of terror attacks along the northwestern areas, has been drained of its resources.

The floods in Pakistan came as a severe blow to the cash-strapped nation already grappling with high debt, the South Asia Press reported, adding that the country's planning commission, agriculture, food, livestock, and fisheries sectors lost USD 3.7 billion in the floods with long-term losses estimated to be around USD 9.24 billion.

Asif also criticised PTI chief Imran Khan saying that his claims of an assassination attempt is a lie. The minister said that Khan himself extended the tenure of former army chief general retired Qamar Javaid Bajwa and now he is blaming him for his ouster.

He said while Imran Khan utilised unconstitutional means to dissolve provincial assemblies, he was removed from his position constitutionally with a vote of no confidence and he now refuses to appear in the court.

He also said that Khan has been creating crises for Pakistan such as making a false narrative of US conspiracy which was not successful due to the Supreme Court’s interference. 

“Imran Khan is creating crises every day but the government is tackling these crises and Pakistan will come out of all these crises soon,” said Khawaja Asif in a report by ARY News.

He added that terrorist attacks have increased in the last few months and the government was not in a position to provide funds for elections and deployment of the army.