ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday announced that the deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF) won’t be accepted if the deal isn’t approved by the Parliament.
Speaking on the floor of Lower House of the Parliament, the PPP chairman lashed out at the Pakistan Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led government’s economic policies and said that the government was the reason behind increase in petrol, gas and electricity prices.
Bilawal took centre stage and let out a barrage of reservations he had against the current regime, he said the current decision undertaken by the government with regards to the newly appointed governor State Bank, Minister of Finance and chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have all been awarded their positions upon the directions of the IMF.
The PPP chairman went on to say that the masses were drowning in the Tsunami of inflation, adding that the labourers, farmers and pensioners were being economically murdered.
On Afghan peace process, he said Pakistan supported dialogue and political solution of Afghanistan with focus on “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned approach”. He said Pakistan urged all the stakeholders to converge their energies on negotiations to avoid conflict in the already war-torn country.
On chances of meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization moot on May 21-22 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, he said “informal handshake could be a possibility, however there is no meeting scheduled so far”.
The FO Spokesman confirmed that Aasia Bibi, the woman acquitted by the Supreme Court on charges of blasphemy, had left Pakistan on her own free will. However, he did not specify which country she had moved to.
Owing to chaotic situation in Libya, he said Pakistan’s mission was in touch with the representatives of Pakistani community and had advised them to register with the embassy for prompt coordination in case of any emergency situation.
On recent detention of some Chinese citizens by Federal Investigation Agency on charges of human trafficking, the Spokesman declined to comment, saying the matter pertained to Ministry of Interior. – NNI