Urges people to donate generously to flood victims
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry urged the people and overseas Pakistanis to donate generously to flood victims in today’s telethon to be hosted by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Talking to the reporters here, he also defended the leaked phone call of ex-finance minister Shaukat Tarin with provincial finance ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab. He asked the government to first explain the phone-tapping by the intelligence bureau (IB), adding that breach of privacy has become a norm in Pakistan.
The former minister called for Finance Minister Miftah Ismail to disclose the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). PTI leader said they would not retrace from their principal demand made in the letter – disclosure of terms and conditions with the IMF.
He said that Tarin did not say anything wrong in the phone call and if that was tantamount to ‘treason’, PTI would keep doing it. Fawad said that Miftah Ismail should step down as even his own party members had spoken against his policies, adding that the middle-class has been thrashed due to the economic policies of the government.
What we are asking for is a simple renegotiation with the IMF after the devastation by floods because the provinces would not be able to generate surplus, he said. He recalled how ex-PM Imran Khan renegotiated with the IMF during the Covid-19 pandemic and said that the PTI provincial governments were seeking the same from the center. If you are (Miftah Ismail) going to go against the will of the people and will not address the reservations of the provinces, we will not be with you, he categroically said. Fawad said that the interest of 220 million should be the interest of the state rather than of a few people who take decisions in the drawing rooms.
