PM Shehbaz says Imran 'out to undermine Pakistan'

Premier says claims of govt 'validated' by British publication

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday criticised the economic policies of the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and said Imran Khan is out to "undermine Pakistan".

Referring to two news stories published in the British weekly The Economist, the premier said the international publication had "validated" what the government had been saying regarding PTI's handling of the economy. 

The prime minister said the magazine had stated that the former premier "blew up" the IMF deal and Imran was "exploiting the disaster to score political points".

Two news stories published in globally respected Economist have validated what we have been saying about Imran Niazi. In its latest issue, the magazine wrote that Niazi "blew up" IMF deal & is "exploiting the disaster to score political points".

He is out to undermine Pakistan.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) September 8, 2022

Senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have also criticized Imran, accusing him of doing divisive politics amid devastating floods in self-serving interest.

Read: IMF dictates tough deal for $3.5b

Earlier, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail claimed that the former PTI government was leading the country towards default and the PML-N government – under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif – saved it from bankruptcy.

He had further said that the Imran-led government “broke the agreement it had itself negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)”.

Miftah had also claimed that the deal with the global lender was delayed by the previous government and that too was poorly negotiated.