Bilawal, Shahbaz critical of PTI’s handling of economy

ISLAMABAD: Politicians were quick to react to on Asad Umar’s resignation as finance minister and the wider implications for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Geo News reported.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated the nation. “I want to congratulate Pakistanis. It was every Pakistanis demand that the government reviews its economic policies,” Bilawal told reporters.

Bilawal was critical of the PTI government’s economic policies stating they lacked direction and failed to make any attempts at consensus building. “Since this government has come the people of Pakistan have drowned in a tsunami of inflation.” The PPP chairman added the government had accepted that its economic policies had failed and they could not provide relief to the people. “Other ministers who have links with banned organisations will also be dismissed soon,” he added.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif said Pakistan’s economy was being held hostage by ego, arrogance and stubbornness.

“Imran Khan Niazi should set aside his ego, arrogance and stubbornness and concentrate on the economy,” Sharif said. Shahbaz added he had made an offer to improve the economy since day one. “If time had not been wasted we wouldn’t have been facing such economic devastation.”

The PML-N leader said that more adverse economic situations would be encountered by the nation if further time is wasted.PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb asked if Umar’s policies were so good and the problems were from the PML-N government, why was he asked to step down. “This is an admission by IK [Imran Khan] that his policies have created an economic crisis in Pakistan. The real problem is not Asad. It is the PM,” Aurangzeb tweeted.

Former interior minister and PPP leader, Senator Rehman Malik tweeted Asad Umar had been made a scapegoat to cover the failures of the government. “Govt needs to make Economic structural changes by utilising all available resources & plan out the National debt retirement.”