Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday claimed that Pakistan has already defaulted and everyone including the establishment, bureaucracy, and politicians are responsible for it.
The remarks come as the country faces a crippling economic crisis, with decades-high inflation and critically low foreign exchange reserves depleted by continued debt repayment obligations.
“You must have heard that Pakistan is going bankrupt or that a default or meltdown is taking place. It (default) has already taken place. We are living in a bankrupt country,” he said while addressing a convention at a private college in Sialkot.
Due to the serious economic crisis that has forced several industries to shut down operations and pushed millions of people on the brink of poverty, the centre is trying to get the International Monetary Fund on board in the next day or two as depleting reserves and upcoming repayments on external fronts have pushed the government into the corner.
Further, Asif said security forces were battling terrorists last night in Karachi when militants attacked the office of the Karachi police chief.
“Whatever is being said on television has nothing to do with reality,” the defence
Talking to a private TV channel, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf avoided building a national consensus against terrorism by refusing to participate in the All Parties Conference called in the wake of Police Lines Peshawar tragedy.
While condemning the Karachi terror attack, the minister said the time has come to move beyond condemnation against terrorism. He said that the security agencies bravely fought the attackers at the KPO.
The government’s top priority was to control terrorism and deal with the economic crisis and it had kept all political differences and instability aside to achieve those endeavours.
Answering a query, the minister said Jail Bharo Tahreek should not be for workers only. Imran Khan advised all party workers to surrender themselves for the Jail Bharo Tehreek, but he himself was hiding in his home and calling his workers to reach Zaman Park and save him (from arrest), Khawaja added.
He said, “Instead of getting pre-arrest bail and whining to the media, Imran should put his words into practice for the honor of politics.”
