ISLAMABAD, June 14(ABC): : PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said Tuesday that his government was under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), however, it still decided to provide relief to the masses.
Speaking during a ceremony in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, the former prime minister said that during his tenure, the then-opposition kept telling the government not to increase the prices of petrol, diesel and electricity.
But after coming to power itself, the coalition government has now “broken all the records of inflation within just two months”.
He said that on the other hand, his government was buying 30% cheaper oil from Russia.
Talking about the working class and its issues, Khan said it’s the government’s job to give money to the poor to relieve them of the burden of inflation. “Farmers were given loans with interest during our tenure,” the ex-premier said.
Calling the labourers to march against the current government, the PTI chairman said that it was “the party’s right to protest peacefully.”
“We will stage the biggest protest in the history of Pakistan,” he reiterated.
Shedding a light on the COVID-19 era, Khan said that the PTI government saved the country’s economy as well as the poor people by devising the policy of smart lockdowns as opposed to completely shutting down everything.
“We gave money to the industries so they could keep running and health cards to the masses for medical treatment,” he said.
The former premier berated the current government and said that the Sharif family ended court cases against them as soon as they came into power and brought corrupt people into bureaucracy.