LAHORE: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not trust Pakistan because of the “wrongdoings” of Imran Khan’s government.

Daughter of the ousted premier Nawaz Sharif said this while addressing a rally held to launch the by-election campaign of the PML-N candidate for PP-167, Nazir Chauhan, in Green Town here on Saturday.

Quoting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, she said the IMF was dealing with Pakistan strictly due to the conduct of the previous government led by Imran Khan.

“IMF doesn’t trust Pakistan due to violations [of agreement] committed by Khan’s government.”

Maryam said the current government had to take difficult decisions due to flawed policies of the previous government. “I will talk about tomato and potato prices and will stand with the people in this difficult situation,” she said, indirectly referring to Imran Khan’s remarks as premier that he did not come into power to check prices of vegetables.

She said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was providing subsidies on flour, sugar, maize and other food items and if the government had ample resources at its disposal, the subsidy on other items, including petrol, would have been increased.

She said Imran Khan had pushed the country on the verge of bankruptcy.

“Khan had stolen the mandate of the people of Punjab and handed the province over to Usman Buzdar, Pinki Peerni and Farah Gogi and jeopardised its development,” she said.

“Pinki Peerni’s son Ibrahim Maneka has become a billionaire in the last four years after receiving kickbacks in every project,” she alleged.

She said Khan was taking revenge from the people of Punjab because he knew they would vote for Nawaz.

She said the PTI MPAs who defected to the PML-N couldn’t be called lotas (turncoats) as they changed loyalties to get rid of an incompetent government to save the country from default. She said nothing would be left in Khan’s party if lotas were excluded from it.

“I am aware of the increasing inflation and [know that] the public is going through difficult times, but we will soon come out of this situation,” she said, adding people should trust the government.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2022