Shibli Faraz blames two newborn politicians for PDM’s collapse

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Senator Shibli Faraz Wednesday ‘blamed’ what he called the newborn two politicians for the collapse of the opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

The minister tweeted this without naming PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He contended that if politics was based on family inheritance instead of merit, then the outcome was the same as that of the PDM today.

Meanwhile, talking to journalists here outside the Parliament House after the PTI parliamentary party meeting, chaired by prime minister, Shibli Faraz said that the PDM component parties lacked unity, as all of them were pursuing conflicting narratives and interests. He contended that the PDM had internal differences, having no consensus for PPP and PML-N which had their own interests, while PPP wanted to move a no-confidence motion but the PML-N had a different viewpoint thereon. He continued that PDM had earlier announced many other steps but failed to achieve any target.

The minister was confident that if the opposition moved the no-confidence motion against prime minister, then it would also face the same fate just like other previous option and acknowledged that though it was their democratic and constitutional right to move a motion in the National Assembly.

As regards the parliamentary party meeting, the minister said that FederalMinister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh gave a detailed briefing on state of the economy and it was informed that when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf came into power, the country was facing a huge trade deficit and the present regime had to take tough decisions to keep the economy afloat. Shibli said that now the economy was improving because of prudent policies pursued by the government and maintained that the previous government artificially controlled the dollar exchange rate, which hampered industrial sector development and exports, whereas reliance on imports increased.

The minister pointed out that the opposition had been continuously spreading negative propaganda regarding loans and explained that out of Rs11 trillion loans, Rs6 trillion were utilised for payment of previous loans and interest payment. Shibli added Rs1.2 trillion were provided to support different sectors especially the disadvantaged segments of the society in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic while Rs3 trillion were utilised with reference to the impact of change in dollar and rupee parity.

He said that the rising dollar exchange rate increased the debt by Rs3 trillion, however, owing to the efforts of the government, high inflation, had now been brought down to single digit from double digit that had a positive impact on the prices of commodities. Moreover, he continued now the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan had also increased, large scale manufacturing and construction sector had registered a boost whereas remittances and taxes collection have also increased.

Prices of edibles like cooking oil, wheat and sugar, he noted, had increased in the international market, which had an impact on the local market as well. However, he said that the fall in the price of LNG in the international market would also result in price fall in Pakistan. He said that the positive impacts of improvement in the national economy have started now reaching the common people.

About the upcoming Senate elections, Shibli said the government believed in holding the elections in the most transparent manner and past practice of sale and purchase of votes should end. He said the government has sought guidance of the Supreme Court on holding the elections through open balloting.

To a question about the Broadsheet issue, the minister said an inquiry commission of justice ® Azmat Saeed Sheikh would investigate it and emphasised that the past rulers were involved in corruption and money laundering on a large scale and this should be investigated.

He noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan would continue to build Pakistan, while political opponents continue to destroy their own parties.