Pakistan: PTI youth activist calls for Imran Khan's resignation amid rising inflation

During a rally in Islamabad, a youth claiming to be a member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan's resignation due to inflation in the country. On Saturday, a youth reported to be a PTI activist stepped up on stage amid speeches by political figures Raja Khurram Shehzad and Ali Nawaz Awan, as well as Federal Minister Asad Umar, according to The News International. After some others asked him to say whatever he wanted, the youth who stepped up on stage, took the mic and stated that it is best for PM Imran Khan to resign. 

According to the media agency, he prophesied Pakistan's future by saying, "Everything will be exactly the same as Raja Khurram Shehzad has said. But Imran Khan will not be the Prime Minister of Pakistan."

Meanwhile, a peaceful protest against Imran Khan's government for failing to create jobs for Pakistan's youth was staged on November 28. According to News International, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) organised the march, which demanded that the government lift the ban on student unions and address the issue of youth unemployment, which affects over 75% of the country's youth.

Imran Khan accepts Govt doesn't have money to run the nation

Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed on Tuesday, in a significant embarrassment for Pakistan, that the country's mounting foreign debts, along with insufficient tax recovery, have become a national security issue. Khan went on to say that the Pakistani government did not have enough money to spend on the well-being of its citizens. Imran Khan conceded as much while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Federal Bureau of Revenue's (FBR) Track and Trace System (TTS) for the sugar industry in Islamabad. Furthermore, he stated that the current culture of tax avoidance stems from the colonial period, when people resented paying taxes because their money was not spent on them. Because of their inability to develop local resources, successive governments have had to rely on loans, according to Imran Khan.

Pakistan faces an economic disaster under Imran Khan's leadership. According to a recent assessment, the country will require gross external financing of USD 51.6 billion over the next two years (2021-2023) to address the issues it faces. Furthermore, the country remains on the FATF's grey list for failing to prosecute members of designated and banned terror formations and organisations, as well as money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The country's much-touted lifeline, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is also not progressing as anticipated, with terror attacks in Pakistan halting different projects, the most recent and high-profile of which was the killing of nine Chinese engineers in a bus blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: PTI