Pakistan opposition calls PM Imran Khan's Rs 120 billion subsidy package 'historic hoax'

Pakistan's opposition parties called Prime Minister Imran Khan's Rs 120 billion relief package the largest historic fraud the country has ever seen, local media reported. The Pakistani opposition also said Prime Minister Khan should resign if he truly wants to help the people. As per a Dawn report, the country's two main opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), harshly criticised the government's economic policies.

PM Imran Khan launched a Rs 120 billion subsidy programme on Wednesday, granting a 30% discount on ghee, flour and pulses to help people escape the grip of inflation. However, PML-N information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb issued a statement hours after Khan's address to the country on Wednesday, calling on the PM to resign for lying on national television and announcing a scam package to deceive the public.

'Package will unleash fresh wave of sorrow': Marriyum Aurangzeb

According to Dawn, Marriyum mocked the notion that the item was historic, saying the only thing historic about it was that it was a "historic hoax." She predicted that this package will unleash a fresh wave of sorrow in the country, including increased inflation and unemployment and said that the only public declaration that would help address the situation created by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) would be Imran Khan's resignation as a corrupt, incompetent, and clueless leader.

Meanwhile, PPP's leader Sherry Rehman responded to the Pakistani Prime Minister's address by saying that Imran Khan should apologise for the economic crisis and inflation. She also stated that the PM gave a "bizarre speech" in which he claimed that unprecedented inflation of gas prices and other essential items were caused by previous governments and the international market, Dawn reported.

'PPP faced higher global oil prices': Sherry Rehman 

She also remarked that the PM has forgotten that the PPP faced higher global oil prices of over $30 per barrel, but local petrol was still half the price of today's prices, and the Pakistani rupee was still strong. According to Dawn, Sherry said that the PM was living in a parallel universe where he couldn't see the pain inflicted on the poor by soaring prices, which were becoming completely unsustainable for the entire country.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP/@Marriyum_A/Twitter)