Pakistan begging for money while India reached the moon, hosted G20 Summit: Former Pak PM Nawaz Sharif

Addressing a meeting of his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his country is begging money from the world while India has reached the moon and hosted the G20 Summit. He blamed Pakistan's former generals and judges for the country's economic crisis.

"Today Pakistan's prime minister goes country to country to beg for funds while India has reached the moon and is holding G20 meetings. Why Pakistan couldn't achieve the feats India did. Who is responsible for this here?" a PTI report quoted Sharif as saying.

He was addressing the party meeting in Lahore from London via video link on Monday evening.

Sharif further claimed that India had followed the economic reforms initiated by his government in 1990.

"When Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the prime minister of India, it had only a billion dollars in kitty but now India's foreign exchange reserves have risen up to $600 billion," the 73-year-old supreme leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party said.

In July, the cash-strapped Pakistan received $1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the $3 billion bailout programme for nine months to support the government’s efforts to stabilise the country's ailing economy.

Ending his over four years of self-imposed exile in the UK, Sharif has announced his return to Pakistan on October 21 to lead PML-N's political campaign in the upcoming elections.

In November 2019, Sharif, serving a seven-year jail term in AlAzizia Mills corruption case, was helped by the then army chief Gen Bajwa to leave the country on medical grounds. The PML-N says it will secure a protective bail for him before his arrival to Lahore next month. His party has planned a historic welcome on his return.

"The man (Nawaz) who rid the country of power load shedding was sent home by four judges," Sharif said in his speech.

"(Former) chief justices Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa were tools of [the former army chief and his spy chief]. Their crime is bigger than a murder offence. Giving them pardons will be an injustice to the nation. They don’t deserve pardon,” Sharif said.

(With PTI inputs)

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