Imran Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former Prime Minister, slammed the Shehbaz Sharif government on Thursday for destabilising the country's economy, saying Sharif's PML-N was only concerned with clearing the corruption cases filed against them and not with the welfare of the people, news agency ANI reported.
Imran Khan's comments come a day after Finance Minister Miftah Ismail published the Pakistan Economic Survey (PES) 2021-22, a day before delivering the fiscal year 2022-23 budget on Thursday.
Imran accused the existing coalition government of plotting to depose his party when it was manifestly unprepared to cope with the country's economy, according to Dawn.
“If they were not ready to handle the country economically then what was the need to conspire against the PTI-led government? If they were not prepared then what was the need, what was the hurry? They could have waited for 1.5 years,” Khan was quoted by ANI in its report.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan insisted that Pakistanis will "now discover what inflation actually is."
While presenting the study, the coalition government led by Shehbaz Sharif reflected on the economy's success in the previous fiscal year, noting that the country had a 6% growth rate versus the 4.8 percent objective.
During a news conference in Islamabad to discuss the study, Khan chastised the government for the rise in inflation. Imran stated that the government's first priority after taking office should have been to reduce inflation.
“In three-and-a-half years, we raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs55 and Rs50, respectively. They came and increased prices by Rs60 in the span of 10 days," Khan said.
During his speech, Imran also emphasised the PTI government's focus on dam construction in the country to address Pakistan's water and energy issues, and later lamented that dams started by the PTI government were suffering because the Water and Power Development Authority's rating had fallen, making it more difficult to obtain loans, according to Dawn.
“Our project for constructing dams is in danger. Money is required to construct them and we have no foreign exchange,” Dawn reported, quoting Khan as he slams the Shehbaz government.
Khan referred to the Shehbaz government as "imported," claiming that all of their assets are located outside of Pakistan and that they have no stake in the country.
Following his fall from office, Khan has held multiple rallies, emphasising the foreign plot charges and his criticism of the Shehbaz Sharif administration as the "selected government."
“In my opinion, I don’t think any other government has caused this much inflation in such a short amount of time in our history,” he added.
I'm not sure how a typical household budgets their needs, he added.
Imran Khan established his own political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in 1997. Khan ran for a seat in the National Assembly in the October 2002 elections, and he served as a Member of Parliament from NA-71, Mianwali, until 2007.
Imran Khan swept to power in Pakistan in 2018 with 176 votes.
Imran, on the other hand, was voted out of power after failing to win the trust vote stipulated by the Supreme Court's verdict in April, resulting in an unceremonious end to his government.
In the 342-member House, 174 lawmakers voted in favour of the resolution, while members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were absent.
(With ANI Inputs)