Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has hit out at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for approaching Qatar with a “begging bowl,” as the South Asian country stares at an economic crisis caused by depleted foreign reserves and high inflationary pressure.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said this week that the country’s foreign exchange reserves have halved to $7.9 billion in August from around $16 billion in February. Last week, the Pakistani economy also recorded its highest ever inflation, at 42.3 percent.
"No one will give them money. Everyone knows that they are thieves. We have to set Pakistan free from the slavery of these thieves," Khan said at a rally in Haripur in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province on Wednesday evening.
Khan criticized the Prime Minister for undertaking a foreign visit while the country was facing extensive damage due to heavy rainfall and accompanying floods, which have wreaked havoc across the country since June.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said on Wednesday that the floods have left more than 900 people dead and resulted in nearly 50,000 people being rendered homeless, mainly in Balochistan Province.
Around 126 people have been killed in flood-related incidents since Monday.
The former PM also reiterated his criticism of the US in his speech, saying that Islamabad would never again get involved in any other war on behalf of a “superpower.”
Khan said that over 80,000 Pakistanis lost their lives in the ‘War on Terror’ between 2001 and 2021, as American drones targeted alleged terrorist hideouts in Pakistan’s KP province.
“We were threatened that if we don’t get involved in America's War, they (Americans) will destroy Pakistan,” Khan said.
Khan added that his ouster from power in a parliamentary vote in April happened because he approached Moscow for “discounted crude,” something that the US didn’t agree with.
The political attack by Khan against the Prime Minister came as Sharif concluded his two-day visit to Qatar on Wednesday.
Sharif’s visit to Qatar took place as Islamabad seeks billions of dollars in foreign funds to revive the country's struggling economy. SBP’s Acting Governor Murtaza Syed said this week that funds being sought from foreign governments would also help revive the $6 billion monetary assistance program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF last month also approved a $1.1 billion loan for Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The decision has yet to be approved by the IMF’s Executive Board.
The loan package is part of the $6 billion assistance package secured by Pakistan from the IMF back in 2019, but which got stalled after Islamabad couldn’t comply with the terms of the Washington-based lender.
State Bank of Pakistan's Acting Governor Syed said that Pakistan has already managed to secure $4 billion from “friendly countries”, including $2 billion from Qatar, $1 billion from Saudi Arabia as well as investments to the tune of $1 billion from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The SBP's top official made the announcement before Sharif embarked on his visit to Doha.