ISLAMABAD: PPP senator Raza Rabbani has demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif brief the parliament on the ongoing negotiations with the Inte­rnational Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to remove serious apprehensions the masses have about the ‘tough conditions’ attached to its bailout package.

“The dragging of feet by the IMF on signing the ag­­reement and reluctance of friendly countries, exc­e­­pt China, to help sans the IMF, the parliament needs to be taken into confidence,” the senator noted in a statem­ent issued here on Monday.

Mr Rabbani said it appeared Pakistan was being softened up to play a role against its national and strategic interests.

“The people have a right to know if our nuclear assets are under pressure, or is our strategic relationship with China under threat, or are we being called up to play a role in the region which will facilitate the military presence of an imperialist power? These and other questions require a policy statement by the prime minister on the floor of a joint sitting,” said Mr Rabbani amid reports about the delay in the finalisation of the IMF programme for Pakistan despite the latter’s unilateral actions to meet the Fund’s tough conditions.

Even the question of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakis­tan (TTP) and increase in terrorism had also found no discussion or briefing from the government, Mr Rabbani regretted.

“It seems be it the Pa­­k­istan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) or the present (PDM) government, they want azadi (liberation) from the parl­i­ament and the Consti­tu­tion,” he remarked.

‘Endless infighting’

Mr Rabbani’s statement provided an opportunity to the opposition PTI to come hard on the coalition government’s economic po­licies, as senior vice cha­irman of the party Shah Mehmood Qureshi accu­sed the incumbent rulers of “destroying Pakistan”.

“This imported government’s infighting is endless. Their allies continue to raise serious questions on the state of Pakis­tan’s economic condition & foreign policy. Yet the government continues unabated, bent upon dest­roying Pakis­tan,” Mr Qureshi wrote on Twitter, sharing Senator Rabbani’s statement.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2023