Punjab Assembly opposition leader and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) member Hamza Shehbaz lambasted Prime Minister Imran Khan and asked him where the ‘foreign gifts’ had gone, which the premier received from foreign dignitaries since he came to power three years ago.
“The claimant of the state of Medina must be held accountable for the foreign gifts he has received so far. Why does he keep them a secret?” asked Shehbaz, while talking to reporters outside the judicial complex on Friday.
Shehbaz had appeared before an accountability court on Friday in a money laundering case in Lahore. The court summoned the witnesses for cross-examination and put off further hearing till November 19.
The PML-N leader’s statement about the PM and the government’s foreign gifts came when a case has also been pending before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the matter.
The opposition leader said, “The whole nation should give him [PM Khan] the medal of the world’s top liar.” He added that the dollar was touching the sky and the poor public was dying from hunger due to inflation.
Shehbaz said, “We are ready now to stand up against this government because we cannot see people suffering due to hunger, this isn’t bearable for us anymore.”
He said that PTI promised to control inflation within six months but were unable to do so.
Shehbaz asked the reporters to put their hands on their hearts and tell whether inflation had increased or decreased.
Comparing oil prices from his era with the current prices, Hamza said that the per barrel price of petrol was $111 in the international market but the per litre price was Rs107 under the PML-N government. Now, it was $84 dollars in the international market and Rs147 per litre under the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.
‘Imran Niazi’, Shehbaz said, failed to do anything since he came to power.
“We will raise our voice against inflation and will be out on the roads against this [PTI] government,” said Shehbaz aggressively and added that even two meals a day were unachievable by citizens.
Talking about the Punjab government’s failure to control dengue, he said that as many as 80 people died due to dengue fever and it was still spreading but the government failed to control it.
He said ‘Imran Niazi’ took revenge on the public and said that his spokespersons who used to blame others, had disappeared.
The gas crisis, he said, worsened in the country but they used to criticize PML-N for buying expensive LNG, while medicines have become so costly that a common citizen cannot afford them.
Attributing a statement that ‘joint session is a Jihad’ to PM Khan, Shehbaz said that now he had mentioned ‘Jihad’, he should do it against rigging in the Daska election. He added that he should do it against the Buzdar government, which was being held responsible in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) inquiry report.
“Niazi should do jihad against misappropriation of billions of rupees in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Malam Jabba projects,” he further said.
