Government’s options limited by IMF agreement: Maryam

BAHAWALPUR: Maryam Nawaz, senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), stated on Thursday that the government’s control over inflation was constrained by Pakistan’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Maryam remarked at a news conference here, “Those who ran the country for four years are accountable for the concerns of the people.”

Marriyum Aurangzeb, the federal minister of information and broadcasting, Rana Sanaullah, the interior minister, and several PML-N heavyweights, including Saud Majeed, were with her.

Maryam said that her party would clean sweep upcoming elections by defeating the political opponents.

“The PML-N is fully prepared to contest the upcoming elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa as well as on the National Assembly seats,” Maryam said. “The PML-N is the largest political party of the county which will clean sweep the upcoming elections by defeating Imran Khan and his allies.”

The PML-N senior vice president said there was no truth in propaganda of political victimisation, adding that the person should be punished and brought to justice who had committed guilt and crime.

“We are not in favour of political victimisation and it is clear that there is no truth in propaganda of political victimisation raised by our political rivals,” she said.

She said that political rivals had been making false and baseless propaganda that former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had some difference with the party’s leadership.

She said that Abbasi was like a part of the Sharif family, saying, “The previous prime minister, Abbasi, is like my brother and is our companion.”

The PML-N, according to her, had taken all necessary preparations to run in the upcoming elections.

She questioned why the borders with a neighbouring nation were opened by the previous administration in response to the Peshawar mosque attack. She questioned, “Who opened borders for terrorists?”

Maryam claimed that the woes, issues, and challenges the general populace is currently experiencing are the fault of the former regime. Financial hardships were brought on for the country’s citizens by the incorrect financial policies implemented by the Imran Khan-led administration, she claimed.

She vehemently denounced the Pehswar explosion, which claimed the lives of innocent police officers. She bemoaned the fact that despite the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) having held power in K-P for ten years, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) did not have an office building in Peshawar.

The PML-N senior vice president claimed that despite the PTI government in K-P receiving significant funding to combat terrorism and uphold the rule of law, the police could not be given access to contemporary tools and equipment.

“The PTI-led K-P administration could not even open a forensic lab as they continue to use the Punjab government’s forensic lab,” she continued.

She declared that she supported defending the community of journalists’ rights. She claimed, however, that certain bad actors have broadcast misleading and unsubstantiated propaganda against the government while disguising themselves as so-called journalists. She said that she had started the party’s campaign from Bahawalpur at the direction of the top leadership.