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Foreign minister lashes out at Imran, rubbishes PTI chief's claim that his government was ousted through a foreign conspiracy.
www.dawn.com
Dawn.com Published May 15, 2022 - Updated about 4 hours ago
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Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto addresses a public rally in Karachi. – DawnNewsTV
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday said the time had come to take "difficult decisions" for Pakistan's benefit to rescue it from the current economic crisis.
"Now the time has come to take those difficult decisions in the country's favour so we can take it out of an economic crisis," the foreign minister said while addressing a rally in Karachi. Bilawal was seemingly referring to the decision to hike petrol prices, which is being delayed by the government.
FM Bilawal said the government had two options in front of it: to maintain short-term relief and thrust the people into long-term problems, or "we bear short-term pain and arrange long-term relief."
"We have to take those difficult decisions through which we can take the economy out of the crisis created by [Imran] Khan," the PPP chairman said, adding that solutions could be found by working together.
Bilawal said the nation was facing "war-like" issues and difficulties and various political opponents had come together in the "unity government" to take responsibility and resolve them.
"Did you ever think we would be part of the cabinet and run the government with Shehbaz Sharif? Did you ever imagine that we would sit with MQM and do this?" the PPP chief asked.
He explained that personal and political differences were forgotten during times of hardship in favour of "national interest". FM Bilawal added that allied political parties would pursue reforms and work hard to deliver relief to the people.
Earlier today, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government was
not increasing petrol prices "for now", going back on an important pre-condition set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the resumption of its loan programme.
Analysts and experts have criticised the new coalition government for eroding investor sentiment by not being able to come up with a credible plan to take politically tough decisions to fix the economy. One key decision on which the government has been dragging its feet is the reversal of the fiscally unsustainable fuel and energy subsidies, which is the ‘prior action’ that IMF wants it to take before it agrees to restart funding.
However, since taking charge, Prime Minister Shehbaz has rejected summaries for the removal of petrol subsidies on multiple occasions, showing that the new government is finding it difficult to take a decision that might be unpopular with its voters.
'Conspiracy was hatched in Bilawal House'
The foreign minister said the conspiracy to oust the PTI government was not hatched inside the White House, as claimed by Imran, but was prepared inside Bilawal House.
Lashing out at Imran, Bilawal rubbished the PTI chief's claim that his government was ousted through a foreign conspiracy at the behest of the United States.
"Now this selected says it was a foreign conspiracy. It's not a foreign conspiracy, it was a democratic action. It was the struggle of PPP workers, it was the success of Constitution and parliamentary democracy," FM Bilawal said.