Price hike conspiracy against govt: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said the artificial price hike was a conspiracy against his government and hinted at imminent changes in the federal, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinets.

Chairing a meeting of the party’s core committee here, the prime minister directed the party’s leaders to liaise with the district administrations in order to point out the hoarders and bring them to justice.

He said the ministers, who were not performing as per his expectations will have to go and he had done his homework in this regard. The prime minister said he had already hinted that the ministers who will not perform up to the mark will be removed and he will soon implement his plan in this regard.

Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s illness and medical treatment also came under discussion. Imran said it was quite unfortunate that the Sharif family was doing politics on the illness of Nawaz Sharif instead of focusing on his treatment.

Sources said the prime minister said it was beyond comprehension why the Sharifs would turn down the indemnity bond, adding that Nawaz needed to go abroad for treatment. On the issue of Azadi March, Imran said the nation had rejected Fazlur Rehman’s narrative and now he was fooling people under the guise of ‘Plan B’.

He said the government had completely facilitated the sit-in and protesters. The committee strongly condemned the ‘unacceptable language’ used by the JUI-F leadership during the Azadi March and sit-in and decided to consider moving the court against the opposition leaders.

The meeting said the major casualty of the sit-in was the Kashmir cause, thus playing into India’s hands. Meanwhile, Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan tweeted, “PTI Core Committee decides to examine violation of laws in speeches made by opposition leaders during Dharna”.

She said the Core Committee also unanimously decided that main opposition leaders showed opportunism by becoming party to Dharna, simply to seek a way out of their corruption dilemma.

“The meeting condemned the unacceptable language used by the JUI-F leaders during Dharna the major casualty of which was the Kashmir cause, thus playing into India's hands,” she added.