Daily Times

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said on Sunday that the government was trying its level best to revive the economy and, for the purpose, difficult decisions had to be taken by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to fulfill the commitments made by the previous government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Addressing a workers’ convention at the dera of Mehar Hamid Rasheed on Millat Road, Faisalabad, he said, “We respect all state institutions. But the previous incompetent government failed to deliver during the last three years.” Their focus was only to crush the opposition and in this connection, former prime minister Imran Khan himself reiterated loudly in the public meetings that he would not spare anybody belonging to the opposition. He said that Imran Khan crossed all limits of victimisation and even during his visit to America, he gave very irresponsible remarks. “When he (Imran) failed to trap me in false and bogus cases, he instituted a case of narcotics against me,” Rana Sana added. He said that due to ill-conceived policies and failure of Imran Khan, the country had reached the verge of default. “Imran Khan failed to focus on the real and core issues of the country and he signed an agreement with the IMF. Now we have to take difficult decision because of that agreement,” he said.

“If we do not implement those agreements, the country might default and the poor and middle classes would be its major victims,” he added.

The minister said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and allied parties did not want to increase the price of petrol. “In this connection, during negotiation with the IMF, we offered it to generate revenue from other sources, but the Fund rejected the proposal and said that as the previous government had given a written commitment, the state of Pakistan was bound to fulfill it,” he added.

About recent load-shedding, he said that it was the outcome of failure of previous government in purchasing gas in-time. He said that during the tenure of the PTI government, the top district administrative seats including deputy commissioner (DC) and assistant commissioner (AC) were ‘won’ through bribe and, in this way, the PTI ruined the state institutions. The PTI had also created a situation which forced the opposition to move a no-confidence motion against ex-PM Imran Khan to save the country from total collapse.

About recent call by Imran Khan about a public meeting at Parade Ground, he said that the court had allocated the area for peaceful protest and the government would not restrain anybody from staging peaceful protest.