ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Thursday reiterated his demand for snap polls, saying the economy had deteriorated beyond repair and fresh general elections were the only way to achieve some kind of economic stability.

In a video address broadcasted live on social media platform, Imran Khan blamed the current government for the economic crisis and claimed that it had no plan to save the economy from crumbling.

According to Mr Khan, economic stability and political stability were interlinked. “If political stability doesn’t come, the economy won’t stabilise, it will go down. So I want to tell my people today that we need to have [snap] elections quickly to save Pakistan from this quagmire.”

The PTI chairman claimed that the current government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not have credibility in the financial markets within the country and abroad and added that Pakistan’s credit rating had turned negative following the ouster of his government in April.

Ex-PM says in absence of political stability, economy won’t stabilise

He said he had told ‘powerful quarters’ about the adverse impact of the no-trust vote on the economy.

The former prime minister said that initially, the government claimed that economic stability would come once the agreement would be finalised with the International Monetary Fund, but despite the approval of the bailout, the situation continued to worsen.

He said there was the highest inflation in the history of Pakistan and the rupee was continuously devaluing and will continue to devalue because of the current situation.

While comparing the current situation with PTI’s tenure, he said that inflation significantly increased during the tenure of the multi-party Pakistan Democratic Movement.

He also dismissed the government’s claims that PTI left behind “landmines” and recalled that when his party came to power in 2018, the country’s current account deficit was at $20 billion. “We brought more dollars into the country and reduced our deficit, but propaganda is done again and again,” he said.

The PTI chairman also took a potshot at the government over its response to floods that have left millions without shelter and nearly 1,500 dead. He alleged that the coalition government did not have any roadmap or plan to rehabilitate the flood-hit people. “We can only see them begging the world for money,” he said.

In an allusion to the ‘fascist’ tactics of the ruling coalition, the former prime minister said that their alleged fascism would meet its end soon and that it was damaging the country.

“Our patience won’t last long if you continue like this, we will have to give a call to the nation,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2022