ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday said PTI chief Imran Khan could not justify his “tenure of destruction” blighted by alleged corruption and incompetency by simply issuing a white paper.

“Whether he issues white, red or yellow paper, nothing can help Imran Khan cover up his corruption, incompetency and the violation of the Constitution he committed during his government’s tenure,” she said in a statement after the PTI issued a white paper on the coalition government’s one-year performance.

Ms Aurangzeb said it was the ruling alliance that had made concerted efforts to steer the country out of economic crises created by the previous government.

“How can Imran Khan, who himself plunged the country into an economic quagmire which ushered in sheer poverty, extreme inflation and massive unemployment, question the performance of a government which came into power just one year ago?” she wondered.

She said a person who brought the country to the brink of default issued a white paper, which ironically had no mention of circular debt in the power sector, which jumped to Rs2,400 billion from Rs1,100bn during his tenure.

There was also no mention of circular debt in the energy sector, which she said soared to Rs1,400bn under the PTI administration’s watch.

She said Mr Khan had also not dared to mention the “wrong policies” of his government that led to higher prices of wheat, sugar, gas and electricity.

Besides, the PTI government had taken record loans of Rs20,000bn, which was not mentioned in the white paper, she said, adding that the coalition government had repaid $11 billion debt in one year.

The former premier had angered almost every friendly country by pursuing wrong policies during his four-year rule, she alleged, adding that the white paper had also failed to mention the previous government’s policies that rendered six million people jobless and pushed 20m below the poverty line.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2023