ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday fired a broadside at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet members for allegedly spending a huge amount on their “flopped” trip to Geneva to attend the donor conference since the moot was held via video link, as no important leader had turned up at the event.

The party’s senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry said France, the host, gave $10 million, but not a single important leader participated in the conference.

He questioned that if the entire conference was to be held through video link, why was there a need to travel to Geneva, according to a statement issued by the party’s central media department.

“The money did not come, but several lakhs of dollars were spent on the visits of the prime minister and his cabinet [members],” he lamented.

Another senior PTI leader, Shireen Mazari, also criticised the government. In a tweet, the former minister said: “Pathetic attendance and it is in one of the small mtg [meeting] rooms of the UN in Geneva because this is where side mtgs are normally held not main sessions of major conferences”.

She said even “in this small venue attendance only seems to be of Pak officials & only some mbrs [members] of cabal of crooks”.

Lashing out at PML-N, Fawad Chaudhry alleged that lying was integral part of the life of the leadership of the PML-N.

He said 17 bills were passed in the Punjab Assembly on Monday, while PML-N kept running away from the count. If they had the required numbers as Khawaja Asif, Saad Rafique and others were claiming, then they would have stopped the legislation.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2023