Sialkot: As Pakistan grapples with an economic crisis, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Saturday that the cash-strapped country is “already insolvent”.
Addressing a convention at a private college in Sialkot, a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader asserted: “The country has defaulted. We live in a state that has defaulted.”
Due to the severe economic crisis that has forced several industries to shut down and pushed millions of people to the brink of poverty, the Center is trying to get the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out in the next day or two. be included as a deficiency in And payments on the external front have pushed the government into a corner.
However, the defense minister said that the solution to all the country’s problems lies within the country and not with the IMF – whose $1.1 billion crucial loan Pakistan is desperately trying to secure.
Pakistan’s economy is in dire straits, grappling with a balance of payments crisis as it tries to service high levels of external debt amid political chaos and deteriorating security.
Inflation has risen, the rupee has depreciated and the country can no longer afford imports, leading to a sharp decline in industry.
The fragile position of foreign exchange reserves – which stood at about $3.19 billion as of February 10 – reflects the woes of the $350 billion economy, which is struggling to fund imports as thousands of tons of supplies hit its ports. Containers were stranded, halting production and losing millions of jobs. People at risk.
Daily life for the people, which was already difficult given the current state of the economy, became even more difficult after the petrol price hit an all-time high of Rs 272 per liter as per IMF demands.
The Defense Minister said that for the last 32 years, I have seen politics in Pakistan getting discredited.
‘Whatever said on TV is not related to reality’
Further, Asif said that security forces were fighting terrorists in Karachi last night when militants attacked Karachi Police Chief’s office.
Three militants were killed and four people, including two policemen and a sub-inspector of Sindh Rangers, were martyred in the nerve-wracking operation that lasted for about four hours on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, 18 others, including police and Rangers personnel, were injured in the terror attack, which followed a deadly suicide attack at the Peshawar Civil Lines mosque in which 84 people were killed.
Without naming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Asif said security personnel were fighting terrorists last night as the militants were brought back and rehabilitated about a year ago.
“Whatever is being said on television has nothing to do with reality,” Def
