Imran Khan lambasts govt over ‘looming threat of default’

LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has strongly criticized the incumbent government over its economic policies as well as the looming threat of a default, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the former premier warned that if the public doesn’t raise its voice, then Pakistan would experience something it has never before, claiming that and the country was going to default.

“A default would mean the country’s income in dollars has stopped, and then the rupee will devalue further. All the funding from abroad will be stopped. No overseas Pakistani will be willing to invest in Pakistan,” the PTI Chairman warned.

Imran Khan said that the ‘gang of theives’ imposed on the country doesn’t care if the country defaults. “They have been stealing money for the last 30 years. They have stashed huge amounts of money abroad,” he added.

The former premier claimed that when he came into power in 2018, he had inherited a fragile economy but had turned it around, only to see his work undone by the present setup.

Comparing his tenure with the incumbent government, Imran said he revived the economy despite unprecedented challenges of Covid-19 and Kashmir dispute.

“The previous government didn’t make any dams but we made six dams, out of which two were massive. Out health card and Ehsaas programme were internationally acknowledged. The billion tree tsunami was praised around the world,” he added.

Imran Khan warned that Pakistan’s default risk has surged to 100 percent while 88 percent of local investors do not believe in the incumbent government. As long as this government lasts, the country’s economic instability will increase, warned Khan.

“Today, the inflation is double and at a 50-year high. When we used to say the inflation is due to global reasons, no one believed us. When these gang of thieves says the same thing, no one is questioning,” he regretted.

He claimed that the PDM government does not have a roadmap to drag the country out of the economic crisis. Imran claimed that his victory in the next elections was so certain that the government was running away from polls.

The PTI chief alleged that “two thieves” — Nawaz and Zardari — would go to any extent to delay elections in the country “because they don’t want to waste what they have achieved by ending their corruption cases during the last seven months”.

Moreover, Imran Khan said the incumbent rulers were buying time to lodge cases and disqualify him in collusion with the chief election commissioner.

In this regard, he said, he was pressing institutions to pave way for early elections in the country to avert the default risk. “What would happen If China and IMF do not bail us out? If country defaults, it will be a big loss for all of us,” he added.

In response to a question, Imran said he hasn’t seen any change in the military’s policy towards him and his party. “The new army chief is here, and he should be given time. We have heard good things about him. We have a lot of expectations of him,” he added.