PM Shehbaz Sharif independent or a puppet for Nawaz Sharif?

[daytrader]

Maryam saying that Nawaz Sharif will decide timing of elections. Does Shehbaz Sharif have the capacity to make independent decisions?

Nawaz to decide next election timing: Maryam


GUJRAT: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz says the next election would be held when Nawaz Sharif would decide on it and asks how Imran Khan would face the people in the election with zero performance during his tenure.

She predicted that the PTI chief would fail if he tried to shift the burden of his poor economic performance to the PML-N. She said the game was now out of the hands of Mr Khan who was trying to escape the accountability of the public after his party government’s bad performance. She said the PTI government had laid landmines for the country’s economy and put it on a ventilator.

Maryam was addressing a rally of the charged PML-N workers in Kotla town of Gujrat on Sunday.

She assured the PTI chief of provision of security even more than that of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif if he produced the video in which he had recorded names of those who had made a plan to assassinate him.

Asks Imran to produce the video regarding assassination bid

“Imran Khan, don’t wait for any tragedy to take place although I am sure that the talk of video is yet another lie and let me guarantee you (Khan) that Nawaz Sharif has a big heart and he will ensure provision of security for you more than Shehbaz Sharif’s,” she said.

“I will ask Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to get that video from Imran Khan and tell the latter to not to wait for any tragedy to happen,” said Maryam who added that she would pray for the life of Imran to watch the victories of Nawaz Sharif Taunting the PTI leader for threatening to withdraw the facility of air conditioners from Nawaz Sharif in the jail, she reminded him that it was Nawaz who had visited him in a hospital by suspending the election campaign ahead of 2013 polls.

Maryam said Imran had not blocked the establishment’s phone numbers as it was the other way round because the establishment’s numbers had changed while the people of Pakistan would term Khan a wrong number when he would go to seek votes.

She said the PTI chief should himself have called for a fresh election when he was in power instead of begging for support from the allies and added that now everyone in Pakistan was looking towards Nawaz as he had always been a centre of attention of Pakistani politics.

In his address, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz announced to bring the sugar prices down from more than Rs100 per kilogram to Rs70, saying that the announcement in this regard would be made within the next 48 hours while the ghee and flour prices would also be decreased.

He said his government did not believe in the politics of victimisation but warned Imran against creating chaos in the country through hate speeches as such a situation had been costing the public and country heavily.

Issuing a warning to the former PM, he said if Mr Khan did not mend his ways the jail doors would be opened for him like the courts had been opened at night to uphold the constitution. He pledged free medicines for cancer patients and relief steps for other patients in public hospitals.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1689870/nawaz-to-decide-next-election-timing-maryam

 

[MenInG]

There is very little doubt that Shehbaz Sharif has the ability to take any decisions on his own.

 

[Bewal Express]

There is very little doubt that Shehbaz Sharif has the ability to take any decisions on his own.

Is that why he ran to London. The guy wants to run around and look busy like a Town Mayor but the job of the PM is one of strategy and leadership- SS has neither of these qualities

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government has decided to complete its constitutional tenure till August 2023, sources told Geo News Tuesday.

The development came during a meeting of the coalition partners, where the country's overall political situation was discussed, with the prime minister in the chair.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, MQM-P's Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and federal ministers Azam Nazeer Tarar, Khawaja Asif, and Marriyum Aurangzeb were part of the meeting.

The participants of the meeting decided that the government would complete its constitutional tenure in a bid to take the country out of the economic turmoil.

Apart from this, the meeting also discussed the Supreme Court of Pakistan's verdict on Article 63 (A) and the situation arising in Punjab after the decision.

According to sources, the allies of the PML-N assured PM Shehbaz Sharif that they are with the party and would stand with them on every decision. They also advised the PM to take immediate measures to stabilise the economy.

Officials, who attended the meeting, say that the coalition partners advised the economic team to take immediate measures to stabilise the rupee. They also recommended that finalise the IMF programme.

The newly formed government is under pressure due to the economic situation as the dollar keeps reaching historic highs daily, while PTI Chairman Imran Khan has repeatedly demanded snap elections.

In a major development, the SC today ruled that the votes of dissident members of the Parliament (MPs), cast against their parliamentary party's directives, cannot be counted.

The five-member larger bench announced a split decision. The majority of judges, including Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, refused to allow parliamentarians from voting against the party directives under the four instances mentioned in Article 63(A) of the Constitution.

Although no PTI member voted for Shehbaz during the prime minister's election, several party members had voted for Hamza Shahbaz in the Punjab chief minister election — leaving his fate hanging in the balance.

GEO

 

[MenInG]

Slamming PTI Chairman Imran Khan over his long march, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said Monday that the people of the country cannot be left at the “mercy of a group of miscreants”

“The people cannot be left at the mercy of a group of miscreants who have already brought unimaginable poverty, inflation, and unemployment on them,” tweeted the former prime minister after attending a PML-N huddle virtually.

The PML-N huddle, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was held in Lahore with Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also in attendance.

Nawaz, who was elected as the country's prime minister three times, said that Pakistan “cannot reach its true destination without countering these elements”.

“We have to stop these miscreants as a nation,” he stated.

Nawaz approves PML-N’s plan to not leave govt

In the meeting, the PML-N supremo approved the party's unanimous decision to not leave the government immediately.

According to sources, in the meeting, PM Shehbaz and the PML-N supremo discussed the ongoing talks between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan.

Sources, privy to the meeting, also stated that Nawaz Sharif directed the government to formulate its plan for dealing with PTI’s long march and share the plan with the PML-N’s coalition partners.

They added that the meeting discussed the political, economic and, constitutional problems.

In the meeting, the PML-N supremo directed PM Shehbaz to work on the federal budget and provide all kinds of relief to the people.

On the other hand, PM Shehbaz directed the interior minister to ensure law and order in Islamabad is not disturbed by the long march.

The PML-N also decided that it will not accept any “unconstitutional demands” of PTI Chairman Khan.

GEO

 

[DRsohail]

puppet.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It has been my conviction that Pakistan will progress only through sheer hard work. Politics of dharna is detrimental to progress & stability. We are focused on overcoming challenges of governance. Nothing can distract us from the task at hand. I owe it to people of Pakistan &#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816;</p>— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1529476133292482561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[DRsohail]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It has been my conviction that Pakistan will progress only through sheer hard work. Politics of dharna is detrimental to progress & stability. We are focused on overcoming challenges of governance. Nothing can distract us from the task at hand. I owe it to people of Pakistan ����</p>— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1529476133292482561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ask him what he did in Islamabad two moths ago. Such a pathetic person and liar he is turning out to be. I hope to see him in jail one day.

 

[MenInG]

Problem with people like Shehbaz is that he so addicted to power that they will do anything to hold on to it.

I mean if he really believed in making as difference, why not ask for a mandate from the people at the earliest? He just wants to strut around as a PM for those few months because in his heart he knows he wont get another chance later.

 

[Hextro]

Problem with people like Shehbaz is that he so addicted to power that they will do anything to hold on to it.

I mean if he really believed in making as difference, why not ask for a mandate from the people at the earliest? He just wants to strut around as a PM for those few months because in his heart he knows he wont get another chance later.

Same goes for Hamza Shahbaz.

We are currently being ruled by a man sitting in London. I guess we are back to our pre independence days.

 

[Kroll]

Doesn’t matter as both are chors and come from a chor family.

 

[MenInG]

So there is one thing to do things behind the scenes but this is so obvious!

Really does this Shehbaz person have any shame? At least look to be taking your own decisions!

==


In an apparent toughening of stance after a "failed" long march by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that former Nawaz Sharif has rejected the "deal" proposed by the former ruling party.

Addressing a press conference, Maryam said that PTI leaders approached National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to "make a deal and give them a safe exit".

"They wanted to make a deal on a give-and-take basis, but Nawaz Sharif rejected it, saying he will not tolerate any threats," she added.

Maryam said that her father has said that PTI should do whatever they had announced now. "Even if the elections were going to happen will not happen now," she quoted the former prime minister as saying.

She said that PTI delegation included former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and Speaker Asad Qaiser.

PML-N leader said that PTI leaders including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Pervez Khattak also came to meet with the speaker. "To summarise, they wanted a safe exit because they had already announced a sit-in," she added.

Maryam said that her party respects Supreme Court's decision, ordering the government to allow PTI to organise their long march at a ground between H-9 and G-9 areas of the federal capital.

"The decision is basically a safe exit for them. Their lawyer kept saying in court that they wanted a specific ground which can only hold 10,000 people. To this, the government lawyer repeatedly said the ground can only hold 10,000 people but PTI knew they cannot produce more people than that number so they insisted," she added.

Getting frustrated, Maryam said, the PTI resorted to violence. They have torched vehicles and a police van… they're putting green belts on fire and are damaging public property. This is what we have been saying that PTI only wants to create chaos in the country," she added.

Saying that Imran Khan should not remove his "political coffin and take it back to Bani Gala", she said that she had asked the government not to arrest Imran Khan as he will expose himself.

"I congratulate all the law enforcing agencies who thwarted this chaos. I also congratulate the nation for not participating in the chaos and exposing Imran Khan," she added.

Maryam Nawaz said that the focus of entire nation should have been on the Delhi court's decision on Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik but instead, this chaos kept everyone busy.

She hoped that after the PTI's "failure", the country would see political stability. "People of Punjab have taken revenge from Imran Khan. They took revenge for imposing a person such as Usman Buzdar who kept saying he was on training throughout his tenure," she added.

Maryam said that PTI kept claiming that it will bring 2.5 million people to the streets but failed to bring even 200 people from any district of Punjab. "Rana Sanaullah said why did he deploy so much force. They kept the government busy in this so-called long march."

PML-N leader said that the masses have "slapped Imran Khan hard" by not participating in his long march, adding that people have dismissed his narrative today.

Express Tribune

 

[offstump]

Why is Maryam making statements on behalf of the government? This is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever seen. On top of that Nawaz ameer-ul-momineen is still in London, I thought he was coming back or is the coward too scared? Pakistan is being governed by an overseas Pakistani lol, ironic isn’t it? Shahbaz has tuned out to be a paper tiger, he can’t think, he can’t govern and he has no idea what he’s doing. They are sending the country back into the dark ages.

 

[MenInG]

Why is Maryam making statements on behalf of the government? This is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever seen. On top of that Nawaz ameer-ul-momineen is still in London, I thought he was coming back or is the coward too scared? Pakistan is being governed by an overseas Pakistani lol, ironic isn’t it? Shahbaz has tuned out to be a paper tiger, he can’t think, he can’t govern and he has no idea what he’s doing. They are sending the country back into the dark ages.

Please dont even joke about this.

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Blaming political factors for the latest downturn in currency and share markets, Pakistan’s economic managers tried on Wednesday to reassure that macroeconomic fundamentals were stabilising and $8.5-10 billion inflows have been lined up from friendly countries against a financing gap of $4bn estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Simultaneously, econo*mic managers of both incu*mbent and former PTI governments appeared to hint at the continuation of a staff-level agreement with the IMF under an interim set-up.

While Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and senior State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials said the IMF had no problem working with an interim set-up, former finance minister Shau*kat Tarin also offered cooperating with a “credible int*erim government” on the continuation of the IMF programme.


Mr Ismail announced at a news conference that economic fundamentals on the trade front had been corrected to an “ideal situation”, in which exports and remittances were now financing imports, as evident from the latest numbers for the first 18 days of the current month.

He said the country had a trade deficit of $48bn and a current account deficit of $17bn last fiscal year ending June 30, but the measures taken by the current government had started showing results as imports flattened to $2.6bn in the first 18 days of July against $7.2bn in June. This means the government would be able to have about $2bn in import savings this month.

The minister said the staff-level agreement had been achieved on the IMF programme and there was no disruption to it and no chance of derailment as the government was committed to the implementation of all agreed prior actions and measures in letter and spirit before the Fund’s executive board’s approval.

With this, the inflows from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) have been revived.

He said the IMF estimated that despite the World Bank, ADB and AIIB support, there would be a financing gap of $4bn during the current fiscal year for which an agreement would be reached in a day or two with a friendly nation for about $1.2bn worth of oil supplies at the rate of $100 million per month.

Another friendly country would be investing $1-2bn in the stock market under a government-to-government (G2G) mechanism that had been approved by the cabinet and sent to its committee on disposal of legislative cases for vetting.

Moreover, another friendly country was expected to provide $2.4bn worth of natural gas on deferred payment and another country had promised a $2bn bank deposit.

All these supports in the form of oil, gas and deposits put together worked out at $6.6bn and would materialise in a few days and maybe some of them be announced in a couple of days during the foreign visits of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

A fourth country had offered 2bn in special drawing rights (SDR) deposits (around $2.63bn), Mr Ismail said, adding that this country had already talked to the IMF, which was currently examining the proposal for which past precedents were available in the IMF history.

The government was also considering privatising two LNG power plants at Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah in Punjab at about $2bn on a G2G basis, but that might take some time to materialise, he said. “So, our funding requirements are comfortably complete.”

Rupee’s slide

He said the local currency’s depreciation this week “originated from the political situation and had nothing to do with the economic situation”.

The rupee fell 2pc on Monday and 3pc on Tuesday despite last week’s staff-level agreement with the IMF. On Wednesday, the rupee further slid 1.3pc to 224.92 per dollar, having ended Tuesday at 221.99.

Mr Ismail said all currencies had depreciated against the greenback because of a “once-in-a-generation strengthening of dollar owing to US Fed’s monetary tightening”.

While the minister claimed that the political situation would stabilise over the next couple of days, he parried repeated questions over the basis of his optimism.

‘Economic shock worse than Covid’

Separately, a senior SBP official told journalists the current economic shock was worse than the Covid-19 as many things were happening simultaneously and US central bank’s monetary tightening was always painful for emerging economies and resultantly even large economies were struggling.

The SBP official said Pakistan’s trust pattern had turned very low after the Feb 28 policy reversals after international commitments and the international community was not ready this time to bail out the country before it showed results on grounds.

He dispelled the impression that the central bank was a silent spectator to the rupee’s depreciation, saying it was intervening in disorderly movement and was working with banks and taking other steps as well. “The country needs a bridge between now and until we start receiving funds” from abroad, he said.

He said a better indicator of the rupee’s strength was the real effective exchange rate — which takes into account the currencies in which Pakistan trades in inflation-adjusted terms — according to which the Pakistani currency had depreciated only 3pc since December.

PM briefed on economy

Meanwhile, the country’s economic team briefed Prime Minister Sharif as the dollar’s sharp rise had become a source of deep concern for the government.

The premier called an emergency meeting on the economic situation of the country, Prime Minister Office said Wednesday.

The meeting — held in Islamabad and attended by the economic team and top officials related to the economy — evaluated the factors for the recent hike in the dollar’s value and the measures to address it. Mr Sharif, presently in Lahore, chaired the meeting via a video link.

A source privy to the meeting told Dawn the prime minister said the country’s uncertain political situation was the main reason behind the dollar’s flight.

The meeting discussed ways and means how to stabilise the rupee and expressed concern that the local currency continued sliding against the dollar despite a ban on the import of hundreds of items.

Cabinet meeting today

Mr Sharif has also called a meeting of the federal cabinet on Thursday (today) to discuss the economic and political situation. He will chair the meeting from Lahore via a video link.

According to the agenda, the meeting will discuss the multimodal air-road corridor for Afghan Transit Trade and will also make a decision on the “trade in goods” agreement with Turkiye.

The meeting will also make a decision on the transfer of amount to the government of Afghanistan for functioning/maintenance/equipment/salaries of three Pakistani hospitals.

The appointment Federal Land Commission’s chairman is also on the agenda.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2022

 

[MenInG]

Another sad day when a proclaimed absconder tells off an elected official!

==

Pakistan Muslim League leader Nawaz Sharif lambastes Finance Minister Miftah Ismail in the PDM meeting due to the ongoing economic turmoil in the country, sources said.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) meeting was held on July 28.

According to sources, the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif took to Miftah Ismail over the Dollar hike since the PML-N-led government took charge. Miftah had claimed that the Dollar would rise only Rs 23, but apparently, Rs 23 and Rs 55 are the same to him, Nawaz Sharif said.

Sources say that the three-time Premier asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to summon a meeting of all ally parties on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Finance Minister should take all allies into confidence regarding the deteriorating economic conditions, he added. The PML-N leader said that if they have to govern then they will have to be brave.

Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam Chief Fazlur Rehman reportedly said that they were asked to sacrifice but they are witnessing double standards recently.

Power corridors are confused over Imran Khan, he might be the apple of other’s eyes but not ours, said PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz.

PDM leader Mehmood Achakzai also voiced his concerns and said that they did not join PDM to oust Imran Khan only but to get political freedom.

The PDM leadership agreed to invite other parties including the PPP to join the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

Meanwhile, PKR’s freefall continued on Friday against the US dollar as the greenback traded at Rs240 in the interbank at the start of the day amid lack of clarity from the government on the IMF deal and other economic measures.

ARY