ISLAMABAD: The country’s major opposition parties on Thursday lambasted the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government over its three-year performance and rejected claims made by Prime Minister Imran Khan about improvement in the governance and economic indicators.

       Commenting on the prime minister’s speech which he made at a ceremony held at the Convention Centre to mark the completion of three years of the PTI government, the opposition leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) termed the figures and the data presented by the government about its performance “a pack of lies”.

       When the PPP declared that the three-year performance of the PTI government remained “zero”, the PML-N dubbed it even “below zero”.

       The PML-N also alleged that the pictures used by the government in advertisements appearing in the national media to highlight its achievements, had been stolen from an Indian website.

       Bilawal says Imran has destroyed Pakistan; Marriyum accuses PTI of ‘stealing’ pictures from Indian website

       Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a statement alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan had brought the country to the brink of disaster and it might take Pakistan more than a decade to recover.

       Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that the figures of the country’s positive performance being presented by the government and advisers of Imran Khan, were not visible even with binoculars.

       “The prime minister himself knows he has destroyed the country administratively, but he is not ready to leave power due to his stubbornness and ego,” he said.

       The PPP chairman alleged that Mr Khan’s government had snatched jobs from thousands of Pakistanis by causing skyrocketing inflation during his government’s three-year rule.

       “The selected prime minister has cut off Pakistan from the rest of the world in the three-year PTI tenure,” said the PPP chairman, adding that Mr Khan was desperate to receive a telephone call from US President Joe Biden.

       “Imran Khan makes big statements but his performance is zero,” said Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

       Stating that the prime minister could no longer fool the people, he said in the last three years, only the “PTI mafia” had benefited in Pakistan.

       “Flour and sugar thieves are on the rise, whereas the general public is offered basic necessities such as medicines at exorbitant prices,” he said.

       According to the PPP chairman, the people buying their monthly ration understood the performance of the present government very well.

       The PPP chairman said the government’s performance could not be judged on the basis of “false reports of government officials”, but by smiles on the people’s faces.

       Similarly, information secretary of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Marriyum Aurangzeb in her reaction said the PTI government’s three-year performance report was nothing but “trash”.

       She alleged that the PTI had to use stolen stock images from an Indian portal because the real picture under their rule was not happy and rosy at all and, in fact, the state of the people was downright miserable and desperate.

       Sharing the “proof” in a series of tweets, Ms Aurangzeb said the images of ecstatic farmers, engineers, shopkeepers, businessmen and citizens had been stolen from the Indian portal imagesbazaar.com. She said “the forger Imran” had every reason to steal these images because his government’s performance “is even below zero”.

       “Had there been prosperity in the country, there would have been real pictures of happy and content Pakistanis,” she said.

       1

       Speaking at a ceremony at Mansoora in connection with the party’s 80th Foundation Day, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq said the nation was paying the price of the PTI regime in the form of “non-stop inflation andVBilawal says Imran has destroyed Pakistan; Marriyum accuses PTI of ‘stealing’ pictures from Indian website Bilawal says Imran has destroyed Pakistan; Marriyum accuses PTI of ‘stealing’ pictures from Indian website FGHNCVSZAZXAXBilawal says Imran has destroyed Pakistan; Marriyum accuses PTI of ‘stealing’ pictures from Indian website Bilawal says Imran has destroyed Pakistan; Marriyum accuses PTI of ‘stealing’ pictures from Indian website B unemployment”, which had turned the life of a common man miserable.

       “If this is what people have achieved as a result of the 22-year-long political struggle of the prime minister then we must seek forgiveness of Almighty Allah from such type of governance,” said the JI chief while hitting out at the ruling party.

       Ahmed Fraz from Lahore also contributed to the report

       Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021