LAHORE:Responding to reporters’ questions, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Imran Khan was hell bent upon bringing political instability in the country. He said that on the one hand, he talked about Riyasat-e-Madina, and on the other, he had demolished the houses of the poor in Bani Gala just to save his house.
To a question, he said the law would take its course and they would not allow the ‘certified thief’ to enter Islamabad. He added that democracy was not in danger in the country and the government would continue to work within the ambit of the law and the Constitution. He said that 11 months were left for the next general election and it was discretion of the sitting government to make a decision about the election date. He said that appointment of the army chief was a routine constitutional matter and it would be worked out accordingly.
To another query regarding Punjab’s concerns over wheat supply, the prime minister said that federal government had imported wheat and it had taken decisions with consensus among the ruling alliance parties for distribution of the commodity among the provinces. He said that Punjab was demanding import permit for the private sector. He expressed his apprehensions that it might raise the prices of wheat if Punjab would import wheat through the private sector, and the commodity purchase might not remain affordable for the common man. He said that the Punjab government had not controlled fertilizer prices and its black marketing, which deprived farmers of the basic agricultural input, thus leading to low yield of wheat crop in the province. Shehbaz said that the government had saved billions of rupees of the nation in the recent wheat import deal.
Responding to another question, he said that Pakistan and India could alleviate their poverty through bilateral trade but, he made it clear, that trade with India was impossible without resolving the major issues especially the core issue of Kashmir.