Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani has said that the people of the country have the right to know if the nuclear assets are ‘under pressure’.
“If our strategic relationship with China is under threat or if we are being called up to play a role in the region which will facilitate military presence of an imperialist power, the people must know” The Express Tribune quoted the senator as saying in a statement.
According to the senior PPP leader, these and other questions require a policy statement by the premier on the floor of a joint session of the Parliament.
On the finalisation of a critical deal with the IMF, Rabbani stressed taking the Parliament into confidence on the matter and on the notion of reluctance of allies, except China, to help Pakistan without the global lender.
“It appears that Pakistan is being softened to play a role that’s against its national and strategic interests,” he maintained.
Rabbani also pointed at the government’s lack of discussion on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the terrorism spike.
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‘It seems the governments want freedom from [discussing the matters in the] Parliament and [follow] the Constitution,’ he remarked.
Default looming?
On Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar insisted that Pakistan won’t default and former premier Imran Khan was the one to blame for the country’s current economic crisis.
Addressing a presser in Islamabad, Dar said he was talking to media to bring more ‘clarity’ to the current scenario.
“We’ve never defaulted and we won’t now,” the minister said, and admitted, “Yes, we were in a precarious situation and are going through it currently.”
The rupee fell abruptly by Rs18.74 against the dollar in the interbank market on Thursday, with the local currency trading at an extreme high of Rs284.85 in morning trade, Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) data showed.
Pakistan has been taking rigorous measures to unlock an IMF programme for a critical $1.1b loan from the international lender.
Economic self sufficiency underlies real power of a state and China and India has shown that.
Be willing to pay tax, work hard and give back to your community. With nuclear power comes fiscal responsibility.