Marriyum Aurangzeb lashes out at Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb Saturday charged that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had wasted the media and public’s time, having said nothing new in his address in Lahore.

Holding a news conference in reaction to Imran’s speech, the minister contended that instead of giving dates, he should have dissolved the assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. But she insisted Imran Khan lacked the courage to dissolve the assemblies.

First, she pointed out, the National Assembly was vacated through a no-confidence motion and now another date was given with regard to the dissolution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies. “On seeing his government going, cipher drama was staged and the national interests and foreign policy were undermined. Letters were got written by his ministers to sabotage IMF deal, on which they had signed themselves,” she noted. She claimed that after having been ousted from power, Imran had become a mentally ill person while looting continued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Assembly, as his ‘employment’ was linked to these two assemblies. “Imran Khan knew that when power goes, his theft and robbery will come to the fore. He is raising hue and cry now just to hide his corruption and divert the public attention from foreign funding and Toshakhana,” she maintained.

The PTI chairman, she claimed, had nothing to do with democracy and people and had his own personal agendas and had misused the Zakat money for personal purposes.

Referring to the PMLN’s five-year rule, she contended that the country was growing rapidly in 2018, as Nawaz Sharif had made the country economically stable and had also eliminated terrorism from the country.

About the PTI government’s nearly four-year government tenure, the minister alleged that Imran Khan had left behind the highest debt in the country’s history and among other issues and challenges, he left loadshedding when he was forced out of the power corridor.

She accused the PTI regime of destroying the country’s economy and vital national projects like the CPEC as well as foreign policy. The PTI chairman, she claimed, had planned political vendetta against his opponents.

The minister insisted that while the country was in dire need of political stability and harmony, Imran Khan had made full arrangements to bankrupt the country, first through his misrule and then through politics of agitation. This had stopped the country’s development and flow of foreign investment into the country. She claimed that Imran Khan was making noise to get an NRO by adopting various gimmicks but these were backfiring, as he has no answer for his corruption and theft.

The minister added the PTI chief was crying to lessen the noise that was made due to the theft of Rs6 billion worth of diamonds and jewellery. Dacoity had been committed in Toshakhana, and it was not just the issue of one wristwatch.

On its part, the minister emphasised the coalition government had handled the country’s economy and the PTI chairman was witnessing that the country was moving in the right direction today. Therefore, he was unsettled on this and wanted to disrupt this process. The coalition government, she made it clear, believed in providing relief to the people of Pakistan despite tough challenges and was working on ways and means to provide relief to masses.

“Due to Imran Khan and his disastrous policies, people are facing the harshest times owing to inflation today. He should tell the people about his performance of four years. Imran Khan can’t fool the people of Pakistan by making a noise,” she said.