‘Corruption stains won’t wash away by speaking in twisted accents’

ISLAMABAD: In a response to speech of the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the National Assembly, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said if the opposition members are brave enough to listen to the truth, then they should stay in the House till the end.

Mocking the way Bilawal kept switching between English and Urdu during his speech, Hammad Azhar implied that oratory skills and talking in twisted accents would not be enough to remove the stains of corruption from someone's character. He said Bilawal spokes about the masses in English, while he switched to English when he was talking about not giving airbases to US.

"Those who have never done any job or business or anything to improve the country's economy and have no knowledge thereof delivered an immature speech on the government's budget and economic policies, and they are telling us how to run the economy," he said, adding that the PTI has come to power with support of people, not on the basis of “10 percent”.

He asked the opposition to go through the budget documents once again and point out what taxes, as they claim, have been levied in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Hammad Azhar said that the rate of inflation was higher during the tenure of the PPP government, adding that it was the PPP that went to the IMF more than any other government in the past.

"It looks like the opposition is having a hard time digesting that the country has achieved a 4 percent growth under the rule of the PTI," said Hammad Azhar, adding that the PPP could not even achieve 1 percent growth during its five-year tenure.

While criticising PMLN legislator Sheikh Rohail Asghar who had linked abuses as a Punjab culture, Hammad Azhar said the PMLN lawmaker distorted the history of Punjab. He said the government brought 160,000 families under Eshaas programme, while during the PPP time government officials were receiving the money in BISP.

Hammad Azhar said the oil prices in Pakistan are lowest in the world. Hammad said the country’s economy has entered into the growth phase with foreign exchange reserves standing at six years high and current account in surplus.