Imran biggest threat to national interest: PML-N

Marriyum says PM criticising Sharifs to hide his incompetence

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has termed Prime Minister Imran Khan as the biggest threat to the national interest and accused him of ‘trying to hide his incompetence and failures behind criticism of PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif’.

PML-N central spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said this while commenting on the PM’s address made on the 23rd foundation day of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. In his speech, the PM Imran accused former PM Sharif and his party of coming to power with the help of an army general.

In his response, Maryam said the PTI chief must apologize to his workers and the nation for continuously speaking lies for the past 23 years. “You are a liar, a thief and an incompetent man,” she said. ‘It is for this reason that people have stopped paying taxes. Your secrets have been exposed.”

She said the government was miles away from accomplishing its promise of creating a Madina-like state. “It operates on a system governed by cruelty, exploitation, lies, fraud and dictatorship.”

The former information minister said the ruling party no longer had any ideology left with ideological workers abandoning its ranks.

“If you were to adhere to the principles of Madina, would you have expelled Justice (retired) Wajihudding, who had suggested the removal of corrupt elements from the party including Jehangir Tareen, Pervez Khattak and Aleem Khan,” she inquired, alluding to the former top court judge’s decision to part ways with the party in 2016.

On the government’s accountability drive, Aurangzeb said the National Accountability Bureau was used as a tool of political victimisation, while those associated with the PTI were treated leniently.

“Imran Khan should apologise for letting his sister Aleema Khan and Jehangir Tareen off the hook in spite of his stand against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), thieves and robbers,” she said.

She also criticised the government’s economic and fiscal policy, including the recommended hike in the prices of petroleum products. She added that the premier had failed to deliver on the promise of job creation and housing on which he campaigned.

“The growth rate was 5.8 per cent when Nawaz was in-charge. People were prosperous and there was hope,” she said, adding that downward revisions and upcoming forecasts paint a bleak economic picture.

The PML-N central spokesperson also raised the issue of infrastructure projects, while outlining the achievements of her party. “Even after spending over a hundred billion rupees, the metro project in Peshawar is nowhere near completion. On the other hand, Shehbaz Sharif successfully completed four metro projects,” she pointed out.

She said that the provincial PTI government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had failed to deliver despite having a budget surplus of Rs40 billion. “Why weren’t the surplus funds used for improving the conditions of operation theatres in public hospitals? Why have heart surgeries come to a halt in K-P? Why are we seeing reports of corruption amounting Rs7 billion in Peshawar metro?”

Speaking about the power situation, Marriyum said the Sharif brothers added 11,000 megawatt electricity to the national grid which benefitted the whole country. “The nation is still waiting to see the 350 dams you promised, Imran Khan,” she said.