ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has urged the coalition government to hold early and transparent polls as soon as possible “to avert the economic collapse”.
“Early and transparent elections are the only way to protect the country from descending into chaos… If elections are not held I am worried that things would get out of control,” he said in a video address on Thursday.
While responding to the allegations that his government left the economy in shambles, the deposited premier said despite unprecedented challenges including global inflation he reduced the fuel and electricity prices.
He said the economy can only be stabilised with political stability. “We have to steer the country out of this quagmire.. they [government] are rapidly pushing the country towards chaos,” he remarked.
Imran said the country will receive as much as $8 billion after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement which is not “sufficient” to bridge the external financing gap.
“We need at least $30 billion which is difficult to arrange as this government lacks credibility locally and internationally.” He added.
PTI chairman said that those in the power corridor must think about it as the current government is incapable of taking the country out of inflation, uncertainty and chaos.
“The graph of the country is going down day by day, the country has reached the risk rating to 22.7 percent,” he said, adding that, “if the current government continues, they would not be able to pay back the loan.”
He further said that all he wants is a transparent election. If they linger on the election schedule, I will call for street protests, he said.
The former prime minister alleged that the coalition just took over the government to safeguard their vested interests. They are using fascist tactics to stop PTI, he said.
“They are registering sedition cases against us, arresting journalists who support us,” he said, adding that “but they can not stop us, we will come out if the government fails to announce the date for the elections soon.”
“If we want to save the country from discord and chaos, free and fair elections need to be announced immediately,” he said.
Imran said that the coalition government, when it first came to power, had claimed that economic stability would come once the International Monetary Funds programme was finalised. “But the conditions today are in front of the people.
“They agreed to all the IMF conditions and then came the historic inflation […] Pakistan has never seen inflation like this in its history […] the rupee is still depreciating and will continue to fall, until political stability arrives,” he pointed out.
The PTI chairman then said that the only way out of these crises was free and fair elections, asserting that delaying the polls would only lead to losses for the country.
“If anyone thinks that we [PTI] are facing a loss because of delayed elections, I can claim, that never in Pakistan’s history did a political party have popularity as much as PTI did. If there is one federal party that can unite Pakistan, it is PTI.”
He said that “big criminals” sitting atop Pakistan had realised that PTI’s popularity could not be confronted.
Debunking the government’s claims that PTI left behind “landmines”, Imran recalled that when his party came to power in 2018, the country’s current account deficit was at $20 billion.
“We brought more dollars into the country and reduced our deficit, but propaganda is done again and again,” he said.
Criticising the government’s response to floods, the PTI chief alleged that the coalition allies did not have any road map or plan for rehabilitation. “We can only see them begging the world for money.”
Going on, he said that the prices of fuel and electricity across Pakistan were reaching their all-time high and warned that they would further increase in the near future.
Unemployment is increasing, inflation is rising, and businesses are closing down, Imran said. “The danger I am seeing right now […] Our credit rating has fallen to negative […] do you know what this means? They think Pakistan doesn’t have the ability to repay and due to this, the cost of loans will increase.”
He recalled that before the no-confidence movement, he had warned the “powerful people” that the not-trust vote would directly impact the economy.
“Our risk rating was 5pc on March 4 and as soon as they tabled the vote of no-confidence, in four days it went to 9pc.”
Hence, the PTI chief reiterated, fresh polls should be announced immediately. “If political stability doesn’t come, the economy won’t stabilise, it will go down. So I want to tell my people today that we need to have elections quickly to save Pakistan from this swamp.”
Referring to the government, Imran said that its “fascist tactics” won’t last long, adding that it was only damaging the country.
“Our patience won’t last long if you continue like this, we will have to give a call to the nation,” he concluded.
