PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb launched a blistering verbal attack against Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the budget presented earlier this month was an outcome of the “third-class performance” of his government.
Addressing the budget session in the National Assembly, the PML-N leader said that the budget for FY2019-20 was a recipe for “crushing the salaried class of Pakistan, destroying the small investor and snatching the morsel out of the common man’s mouth”.
Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri interrupted Aurangzeb when she alleged that the government had come into power after being “selected”. He reminded her that he had advised against using the term on Sunday as well because “every member has come to the parliament after being elected”.
Aurangzeb maintained that she had not used the word for the prime minister and later chose to refer to the incumbent government as “handpicked” instead of selected.
Referring to the premier as the “TV star prime minister”, she said Prime Minister Imran after coming into power had first addressed the nation through television, instead of on the parliament’s floor. She recalled that the prime minister addressed the nation twice in the last 10 days.
“In the first address, he was standing atop the container and targeted the opposition; in the second address, he was still on the container and targeted this country’s investors and traders,” she alleged.
The PML-N spokesperson further alleged that the prime minister in his first address had threatened the opposition with “NAB 2” and in the second he “took out his frustration over his failed amnesty [scheme] before the investors”.
“What bigger proof could there be of an incompetent, ineligible, experienced and failed government that the country’s prime minister has resorted to issuing threats?” Aurangzeb asked.
She alleged that Prime Minister Imran had been boasting about building the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and leading the Pakistan to World Cup victory in 1992, saying: “I want to make it clear that the 1992 World Cup was a collective success of the Pakistan cricket team and Shaukat Khanum too was constructed due to Pakistani national spirit.”
Aurangzeb recalled that the prime minister had, before assuming office, promised the nation that he would not take the country to the International Monetary Fund, would turn the economy around, turn the governor house into a museum and sell assets of Prime Minister House to benefit the treasury.
“The [person] who sold these dreams has today merely become the driver of Uber company and demands five stars on every ride,” she said, apparently referring to Prime Minister Imran’s move to personally drive several foreign dignitaries who have recently visited Pakistan.
