Issued on: 04/14/2022 – 11:34Modified: 04/14/2022 – 11:32
Islamabad (AFP) – Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday the country’s economy had stagnated under his predecessor Imran Khan, setting the tone for what may be months of bitterness ahead of an election to be held next October.
Sharif, who was sworn in on Monday after Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote in parliament, is still finalizing his cabinet but has called for “Pakistani pace” to push ahead with development projects and repair the economy.
On Thursday, the 70-year-old notorious workaholic visited a subway bus project in Rawalpindi and lamented the pace of infrastructure development.
“Almost all sectors of the economy stagnated under IK,” he later tweeted, referring to his predecessor with his initials.
His early morning visit came after Khan held a large rally in Peshawar on Wednesday night.
Khan – along with most of his Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPs – walked out of the National Assembly after losing Sunday’s vote of no confidence and said he would take his fight to the people to push for snap elections .
On Wednesday, Khan said he would hold rallies twice a week across the country until a new election date is set.
“Young people, get ready, I will take to the streets with you. I will go to every city and I will keep going until they are forced to hold elections.”
“Pakistan Speed”
Sharif, younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took his stand on Tuesday by ordering the government to introduce a six-day work week instead of the previous five and to bring office hours forward from 10am to 8am.
His Pakistan Speed policy is an extension of a similar program he launched as prime minister of Punjab, the country’s most populous province, where he has been credited with launching a series of high-profile – and vote-catching – projects.
The government will take unspecified “emergency measures” to stabilize the economy, Sharif’s office later said, focusing on steps to improve the living conditions of ordinary people.
Sharif is inheriting a crippling national debt, runaway inflation and a weak rupee – although analysts say Khan also took over in 2018 a battered economy further battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Khan’s fall heralds the return of two dynastic parties that have dominated Pakistani politics for decades.
Sharif’s centrist Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) aligned with the centre-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – fief of the Bhutto family – to force the no-confidence vote.
Khan tried everything to stay in power after losing his majority in parliament to the resignations of his own lawmakers and a coalition partner – including dissolving the assembly and calling new elections.
But the Supreme Court deemed all of his actions illegal and ordered them to reconvene and vote.
The cricketer-turned-politician insists he was the victim of a “regime change” plot involving Washington and his opponents and vowed to take his fight to the streets in hopes of snapping new elections to force.
On Wednesday night, Khan told thousands of supporters that the new government was “imported” and said Pakistan must embark on an independent global path.
He said Washington wanted to remove him because of his refusal to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and also because of his close ties to China.
Washington, Moscow and Beijing have congratulated Sharif since taking office.
© 2022 AFP
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