PTI grills rulers for ‘keeping wealth offshore’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram on Wednesday questioned how foreign investors could be expected to invest in Pakistan when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held more assets abroad than in the country.

“…And this amounts to sending a clear message to the international community that Pakistan is not a safe or viable place for investment,” he said in a statement issued on Wednesday in reaction to a Fafen report detailing the assets and liabilities of parliamentarians .

He criticised the Sharif and Zardari families, calling them the “imposed rulers” who had looted the nation’s wealth and stashed it in safe havens abroad.

Meanwhile, he said, the government was going door to door begging for funds to run daily affairs, leaving the people to bear the brunt of their mismanagement and misplaced priorities.

Waqas Akram lambasted the “illegitimate fascist” regime for seeking foreign financial assistance while hoarding their alleged ill-gotten wealth in offshore accounts and foreign properties.

He alleged that the rulers had not brought their assets to Pakistan because they were not elected representatives of the people but had seized power fraudulently. He further claimed that they would flee the country at the first opportunity after being ousted.

Waqas said that successive governments led by the Sharif and Zardari dynasties had drained Pakistan’s economy through unchecked corruption, money laundering, and cronyism.

He argued that Pakistan stood on the brink of financial collapse not only due to external factors but primarily because of the plunder orchestrated by these two families.

He said that while Pakistan struggled to manage its daily affairs, facing shortages of necessities such as electricity, gas, and healthcare, the ruling elites were busy building vast empires abroad.

Waqas highlighted the Sharif family’s Avenfield properties, London flats, and offshore companies, as well as the Zardari family’s questionable wealth and foreign assets, calling them a slap in the face of every hard-working Pakistani. “These imposed rulers have not only failed to invest in Pakistan but have actively drained its resources, leaving the country in a state of perpetual dependency and despair,” he added.