Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday expressed the hope that the decision on the name of caretaker prime minister would be finalised by Saturday. The prime minister, in a farewell interaction with the PM beat reporters here, said he would meet the heads of coalition parties on Friday night to discuss the matter which would follow his meeting with Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz on Friday or Saturday. He explained that in case of their inability to evolve consensus on a single name, the matter would be referred to the parliamentary committee with a mandate to dispose it of within three days. In case of no agreement at that committee level, the matter would be taken up by the Election Commission which would have to take the final decision within two days. Responding to a question about the letter written by President Arif Alvi to him and the opposition leader to finalise the name by August 12, the prime minister said the procedure was very clear in the constitution. He said the 16 months of his stint were the most difficult time of his 38-year political career. However, consequent to the teamwork and efforts of all the stakeholders made the government achieve success on different fronts. He said the government machinery worked round The clock during the floods and Rs100 billion was disbursed by the previous government, besides the ones distributed by the provinces and the relevant departments.He said the agreement with the IMF was a great challenge that was surmounted by the team’s efforts otherwise, the country could have faced chaos.

Recounting his government’s success at the diplomatic front, the prime minister said they had improved the ties with friendly countries which were strained during the previous government through baseless allegations.

He said the inflation had touched 12.5% during the previous government which was just 3.5% during the Nawaz Sharif’s tenure.

He said the government had to spend $2 billion to import wheat following the reduced production.

Without naming the news story about the cipher, the prime minister said, “What happened yesterday has exposed everything.”

He said the oil prices were not in the government’s control and they were compelled to pass on the impact to the consumers.

He told the newsmen that the government had put in place a mechanism in the form of Special Investment Facilitation Council which was a vision for country’s progress and prosperity.