PM terms Shehbaz’s speeches as ‘job applications’

Premier denies PTI govt is any kind of trouble

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday described PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif's speeches as job applications, while refuting that the government was in any kind of danger.

“After every three months it is said that the government is in trouble. The government is not in any trouble,” the premier told reporters while heading towards the Parliament House after a meeting of the federal cabinet.

The prime minister further said he kept hearing that former convicted premier Nawaz Sharif was returning to the country today or tomorrow.

“The same was the case when he [Nawaz] was in Saudi Arabia. He did not return until an agreement had been reached.”

Earlier, the premier, in response to queries from some party members on the sovereignty of the State Bank of Pakistan, replied that his government would not take any step that would affect the integrity of the country.

Addressing a meeting of the PTI central executive committee, the prime minister said his party was the most popular and organised political force in the federation.

He added that the PTI was moving towards the goal of empowering the people at the grassroots level both politically and administratively.

“We are paying special attention to the welfare of the poor in the process of national development.”

The premier maintained that from health cards to cheap ration schemes, the government was spending extraordinary resources on public welfare.

Read: ‘Mini-budget’ tabled in NA amid ruckus

PM Imran Khan instructed the newly appointed officials to complete the process of reorganisation at the lowest level as soon as possible.

“The leaders of the PTI should organise themselves at all levels and prepare to face future political challenges.”

In the new party set-up, Asad Umar has been given the post of general secretary while Pervez Khattak, Ali Haider Zaidi, Qasim Suri, Shafqat Mahmood and Khusro Bakhtiar have been appointed as new provincial heads of the party in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and Southern Punjab, respectively.

Aamir Mehmood Kiani has been made the party's additional secretary general.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it was the parliamentarians’ right to be acquainted with the legislation which was about to be tabled in parliament.

He said the finance minister had responded to the questions raised by the legislators about the supplementary finance bill as well as amendments to the SBP law. The foreign minister added that parliament was empowered to amend any law with a simple majority if required to remove any lacuna.