RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ah­­med on Friday lashed out at the ruling coalition’s key figures and criticised it for continuing to increase the cabinet size in times of crisis, particularly when inflation remains at high levels.

Addressing his supporters and PTI workers in Rawalpindi, he said the PML-N chief organiser, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, had no say in her party and no was ready to buy her narrative even at her home.

Mr Ahmed also called names at Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and criticised him for his overseas visits. He said Mr Bhutto-Zardari was not coming home because he was afraid of him.

The former interior minister also criticised Fin­ance Minister Ishaq Dar for the ongoing economic turmoil and said Mr Dar used to say he would bring back the dollar to below Rs200 but failed to do it.

He also took a dig at former president Asif Ali Zardari and said he was the one who was manipulating politics.

Mr Ahmed said he and PTI chief Imran Khan was not against the establishment and bureaucracy, but “we are fighting for democracy”. He criticised the current administration for keeping such a large cabinet and remarked that all assembly members of the Pak­istan Democratic Mov­e­­ment coalition were part of the 88-person cabinet.

Stressing that free and fair elections were the only solution to all pro­blems faced by the nation, he said the danger of default still loomed large.

He said the people of Rawalpindi would not support the PML-N when the party held a workers’ convention in the city.

On Thursday, the IHC approved Mr Rashid’s post-arrest bail application in a case pertaining to claims he made on television that Mr Zardari was involved in a fresh assassination plot against the PTI chief.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023