Opposition rejects Imran’s speech as ‘a pack of lies’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan over his speech which he delivered at a special ceremony marking completion of the first 100 days of his government, terming it “ineffective” and “a pack of lies”.

Reacting to the speeches made by the prime minister and his cabinet members at the ceremony held at Convention Centre, the spokespersons for the two parties blasted the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government for its “failed economic policies, unprecedented price hike and its much-hyped austerity drive”.

Take a look: First 100 Days Of PTI In Government - Performance Report

Terming the 100-day performance of the government “unimpressive, ridiculous and full of lies and U-turns,” PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that her party would issue a ‘fact sheet’ on the government’s ‘real performance’ and expose its ‘lies and U-turns’ at a news conference on Friday.

Some three months before the July 25 general elections, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had unveiled his party’s ambitious ‘agenda’ outlining his commitments for starting work within the first 100 days of forming a government.

PML-N to issue ‘fact sheet’ about PTI government’s ‘real’ performance today

The salient features of the agenda were expeditious merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bifurcation of Punjab province and reconciliation with estranged Baloch leaders. The agenda also contained a plan for introducing a development package for Karachi and a programme for poverty alleviation, besides a number of steps for improvement of the economy.

The opposition parties alleged that the government had totally failed to deliver on almost all the fronts, especially the economy and law and order situation.

Ms Aurangzeb said “the hopeless and useless government after failing to do anything on its own is now trying to take credit for the projects and initiatives of the PML-N government.” She said that Mr Khan was now taking the credit for the health cards schemes which had already been launched during the Nawaz Sharif government in the country’s 36 districts.

She regretted that the present government despite making tall claims had not initiated any programme for poverty alleviation.

“Instead of highlighting achievements of the first 100 days, the government has announced a plan for the next 100 days,” she said, adding that the nation kept on waiting to hear from the prime minister anything positive about the performance of the government.

The PML-N spokesperson said it seemed that a contest of telling lies among the ministers was going on at the Convention Centre, but at the end it was Imran Khan himself who won the medal.

“(Finance Minister) Asad Umar stood second and (Foreign Minister) Shah Mehmood Qureshi secured third position in the contest. (Information Minister) Fawad Chaudhry, who always stood first in such competitions, was nowhere to be seen,” she said in a light-hearted way.

Ms Aurangzeb asked Mr Khan to tell the nation “why foreign exchange reserves have come down from $17 billion in May to $11bn? Why the dollar has attained highest gain in the country’s history? Why inflation is at the highest? Why there has been a 67 per cent reduction in the foreign direct investment?”

She said that Imran Khan had himself admitted that his wife Bushra had to daily remind him that he was the prime minister of the country, confirming the opposition’s claim that Mr Khan was still doing “container politics”.

PPP’s Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, who is also the spokesman for party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said in a statement that the speech of the “selected prime minister” was “totally unimpressive”.

“Despite ruling the country for 100 days, Imran Khan had nothing to tell the nation,” he said.

Mr Khokhar said that Imran Khan had centred his government’s foreign policy on “the begging bowl” and his claim of purging the police and bureaucracy of political influence had already been exposed.

He said that before talking about elimination of corruption, Mr Khan should look at his companions and hand them over to the National Accountability Bureau.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018

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