Nawaz demands accountability of Imran’sfacilitators

ISLAMABAD: PML-N president and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday called for accountability for “those who brought Imran” into power, claiming that they were bigger “criminals” than the PTI founder.

In 2018, according to figures provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan, PTI had emerged as the largest political party in the country, winning 115 of the 270 National Assembly seats on which the elections were held.

Addressing a gathering of newly-elected lawmakers, the former prime minister said, “I believe Imran Khan was not the lone criminal. Those who brought him [into power] were bigger criminals than him. They should also be held fully accountable.”

He said the country had been on an upward trajectory before 2018, citing higher growth and low inflation.

Nawaz recalled that the Saudi riyal was valued at Rs11 when Pervez Musharraf imposed martial law in 1999, compared to around Rs78 today (as pointed out by an audience member). He said currency depreciation had made life unaffordable for Pakistanis.

The PML-N supremo added that Pakistan cannot make decisions independently due to its reliance on the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“If our rate of progress had remained the same, who knows where we would’ve reached today. There would be no worries about IMF or about foreign exchange,” Nawaz said.

“Now we have all these worries; what are our reserves, whether IMF will let us do this or not. We cannot make any decision ourselves. Our personal decisions are in the hands of foreigners,” he stated.

The PML-N leader claimed that people voted for PML-N on the basis of its performance, praising both PM Shehbaz and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for their efforts to “reach the level that we had lost”.

He said the two were “working hard” to restore economic stability, saying the government had “taken the economy out of the trenches” and moved the country away from default. He said provincial schemes including low-cost housing, hospital projects, student laptops, scholarships and the “Suthra Punjab” and green bus initiatives are evidence of progress.

He also highlighted what he described as improved security and social protection in Punjab, saying ration cards and health facilities were reaching vulnerable families without discrimination. “People of all beliefs and religions are our brothers and sisters,” Nawaz stated.

He said Imran’s called political opponents ‘chor and daaku’ (thieves and dacoits), while he himself was at the “forefront of robbery and theft”. Staff Report