Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangeb on Wednesday said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan could not conceal his incompetence, inefficiency and corruption by “covering his face in public with a canister”.
“It may be a bucket or a canister or a ‘dustbin’, but rest assured nothing can help Imran Khan cover up his four years misrule which was marred by corruption, loot and plunder ,” the minister said while addressing a news conference.
Flanked by Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Economy and Energy Bilal Azhar Kayani, she said Imran Khan would have been visiting the public without any fear, had he not wreaked havoc with the economy.
“Imran Khan could cover his face with a bucket, a canister or a dustbin before going to the public, but nothing can help him cover his evil deeds and corruption,” the minister remarked.
Marriyum said a group of people was imposed on the country in an unconstitutional way in 2018, but the coalition parties had not only ousted them from power in a democratic way, but also cleared the economic mess created by them.
“We have not only fixed the economy but also continued to make efforts to bring further improvement,” she added.
Marriyum said Imran Khan had deprived the people of sugar and wheat, harmed Pakistan’s diplomatic relations with other countries, traded off Kashmir for foreign funds, and above all destroyed the economy which resulted in extreme inflation, poverty and unemployment.
She also played two video clips to substantiate her claim about the bad performance of Imran Khan’s government by comparing it with the one year of the present coalition government.
She said the videos gave a comparative analysis of the two governments’ performances and highlighted the initiatives taken by the coalition government to undo the missteps of the PTI’s regime.
“When the coalition parties came to power, everybody said that the country would soon default, but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has a vision and roadmap for development, with the national economy on top priority,” she noted.
She said that during first eight months of the present coalition regime, the fiscal deficit in terms of GDP fell from 3.4 to 2.8 percent whereas the current account deficit reduced by 74 percent and trade deficit by 36 per cent.
The minister said the coalition government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had transformed the “journey of economic disaster in the journey on path to prosperity”.
She said the government had been making all-out efforts to pass on relief to the masses in line with the vision of
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The historic Ramazan Package was rolled out on the PM’s directives to provide subsidies to the masses on major staple food items including wheat flour, sugar and lentils.
The BISP allocation, she said, had also been raised to Rs 400 billion to save the people from the effects of inflation. The distribution of BISP funds and petrol subsidy was planned in a transparent way, she added.
The minister said the BISP data was used to distribute free flour and other subsidies for the poor segments of the society.
She said the prime minister announced the Rs 1,800 billion Kissan Package and subsidized every item they used for increasing the output of crops.
Pakistan was devastated by floods last year, but PM Shehbaz led from the front and looked after the affectees in an unprecedented way, she said, adding the Federal Government had disbursed Rs 100 billion among the provinces for carrying out relief and rehabilitation efforts across the country.
She said the coalition government also fought Pakistan’s case relating to climate change at international level in a proactive and effective manner and the support the country received from the international community after the floods, was unprecedented.
On the other hand, she said, Imran Khan during his four-year rule had pushed the country into the economic quagmire by shutting down all the major projects in different sectors, including health, infrastructure
and youth related projects.
“When the Imran led gang was imposed in 2018, the country had 6.2 per cent economic growth ratio and CPEC was in full swing, the health card insurance scheme had just started and the youth programme was also paying its dividends.
“Moreover, the national economy was also set to take off with zero load-shedding and zero terrorism in the country. The price of wheat was Rs 35 per kg while sugar was sold at Rs 52 per kg during the five years of the
previous PML-N government.
“The last PML-N government had not only successfully completed the IMF programme but also stabilized the economy,” she said.
On the other hand, she added, Imran Khan violated the agreement signed by his own government with the IMF on tough conditions. His government had presented a budget with Rs 5,200 billion fiscal deficit and Rs 40 billion trade deficit. Imran Khan shut down the CPEC projects, power plants and other major infrastructure development
schemes.
She said during four years, Imran Khan’s government took 78 percent more loans than all the previous governments had taken during the past 75 years and plunged the country in the debt trap. It had no precedent in the country’s history. Contrary to Imran Khan’s claim that he would bring some 200 experts form abroad for fixing the economy, his regime had destroyed the already flourishing economy, the minister added.
Marriyum said during last 10 months, the coalition government retired $11 billion loan taken by the previous regime.
She said terrorism was wiped out from the country towards the end of last PML-N government but it had
been resurrected in Peshawar due to the so-called reconciliation made by Imran Khan’s regime with terrorist organisations.
She said the country witnessed a dark era during the four years of Imran Khan government, which had rendered 600,000 people jobless, pushed 20 million people below poverty line, and increased wheat and sugar prices to
Rs 100 per kg and Rs120 per kg, respectively.
The electricity prices also increased to Rs 24 per unit during Imran Khan’s tenure as no additional megawatt was added to the national grid system, she added. He even shut down the already working power plants, she said, while pointing out exorbitant prices of fertilizers during his rule.
“Now this shameless person says he is popular among the masses, but he needs to know that popularity cannot be gauged through social media campaigns,” the minister maintained.
She said during the Imran era, the depreciation process of local currency started, with dollar’s parity against rupee reached from 118 to 189.
The minister said that the coalition government was determined to turn the tide of the economy, with bringing prosperity for the people, who had suffered from miseries during Imran Khan’s tenure, besides jobs creation for the youth and provision of food items at affordable prices.
“Due to our successful foreign policy, the confidence of friendly countries in Pakistan has been restored,” said the minister.
She said during the PTI rule, the journalists were subjected to the worst torture and restrictions.
She said the current account deficit had been reduced by 74% in the one-year tenure of the present dispensation.
She said a “ticket selling leader” was demanding Rs 10 million for meeting the people and demanding a huge amount for awarding party tickets to the aspiring candidates.
The former rulers, she said, played a dirty game and left the country on the verge of default, made it difficult for the people to have two meals a day, industries and businesses were closed down and the youth were deprived of employment opportunities.
Today with the grace of Allah Almighty, all the projects closed during the PTI era had been revived and made functional as the wheel of economy was moving now in the right direction, she added.
During the past three months, she said, Rs 6.9 billion loans were given to the youth under the PM’s Youth Programme which was renamed by Imran Khan as Kamyab Jawan Programme. Moreover, she added, over 100,000 laptops had also been given to deserving students and for the first time in the country’s history the young people were given agricultural loans under the vision of Nawaz Sharif, being implemented by Shehbaz Sharif.
Castigating Imran Khan, she said the person who was covering his face with a bucket was never seen when the country was devastated by floods. He used to fly helicopters of the two chief ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and Punjab where the PTI was in power but never bothered to console the victims of the floods.
When the scourge of terrorism rose its head again due to his own failures, Imran never uttered a word to express sympathy with the victims’ families, she said. Rather he run a toxic campaign against the Lasbela helicopter crash martyrs and mocked the families of Hazara martyrs.
She said during Imran’s tenure, the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute was paralysed as the doctors who came to Pakistan to serve the country on Shehbaz Sharif’s request were ridiculed by the then Chief Justice. Now the PKLI had again become functional and for the first time robotic surgery was conducted in that institute on
April 17.
Replying to media persons questions, she said cases related to Imran Khan and cronies about their corruption, loot and plunder were in courts in the shape of references but he was persistently getting bail packages despite having no answer for “his crimes”.
To a question about talks with Imran, she said there was no point in holding dialogue with a person who did not know the meaning of negotiations and was rather trying to use it for closure of cases against him.
She said during the past one year, the coalition parties had taken all decisions in consultation and would take any decision about talks with consensus too. A consultative committee had been constituted by the coalition parties last night, but so far no decision was made on talks with the PTI. She said whenever such a decision would be made, media would be given update.
She said that the parliament had passed a resolution asking all institutions to work in their own domains and should not ingress in the ambit of other institutions. She said that Imran Khan had conditioned holding talks with withdrawal of cases against him as Imran had no defence in cases against him.
She said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the first time had linked issuance of government advertisements with payment of timely salaries by media houses through amendment in Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority law. She said that working journalists were given representation in the Pemra Authority and Council of Complaints.
She said that for the first time, bank accounts of media houses were frozen on failure in payment of salaries to the employees and for the first time, the term timely salary was defined. She said that for the first time, fake news, disinformation and misinformation has been banned through legislation. Moreover, she said that the wage board had been implemented after 11 years and ITNE has been made functional and over Rs 70 million have been paid by the employers to employees on the intervention of the tribunal during four months only.
To a question, she said that the government was on the one hand countering the conspiracies of Imran Khan who did not want revival of the economy and on the other hand it was providing relief to the masses.
