Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday warned the government to announce fresh elections as soon as possible and said that his “party will not stay patient for too long.”
Addressing his supporters during a live telecast, the former prime minister said that the government had destabilised the political situation in the country.
“If they [coalition government] keeps pushing us against the wall, we will have no choice but to call on the public,” he said, adding that the economy was heading towards a downfall, leading to people’s suffering.
Khan said that it will be difficult to prevent the country from collapsing if it continues to suffer from political instability, reiterating that the government should conduct fresh elections soon.
The former premier said that the only reason he decided to address the nation was that the risk rate during his tenure was 5%, but it had increased to 9% when the no-confidence motion was submitted against him and now it has reached over 22%.
The PTI chief criticised the incumbent government, saying that it had “no way to stop the economy from collapsing.” “The government said that the economy will improve after the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, but today, the country is facing record-high inflation,” he said.
Speaking about his party, Khan said that the PTI was the only party that could keep the whole country united. “Those assuming top governmental posts know that they can’t compete against the PTI in terms of popularity,” he added.
The party chairman put forward some statistics, saying that his government left the foreign exchange reserves of $16.2 billion, adding that at present, the country was facing inflation and unemployment and was heading in the direction of Sri Lanka.
“Pakistan will receive $8 billion from the IMF, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank, while the rest $22 billion will have to be financed from other countries,” said Khan. He added that Pakistan has to pay $30 billion in loans this year.
