NAROWAL: PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday hit out at the prime minister for speaking about the extension of the chief of army staff (COAS) tenure before the right time.

“A new military chief is appointed during the last three months of the incumbent’s tenure, therefore, talking about the extension before time is just a political tactic,” he told journalists here.

He said donors to Imran Niazi were made ministers and advisers to the state. The worst wheat crisis in the country was looming large, thanks to the inefficiency of the PTI, he said. He said it’s high time the nation played its role to oust the government.

He said the PTI was playing a dangerous game of using religious card to compete with the PML-N and people would not fall into any such conspiracy. The PML-N was the only political party which was capable of taking the country out of economic ruin — a fact which people understand, said Iqbal.

He said the parties part of the PDM were playing their role and it was a test of other political parties which role they would like to play. He said the PDM had already announced long march. He said the opposition parties would also oppose in parliament the government’s mini-budget.

He said Imran Niazi had committed corruption in the foreign funding case. He deplored that urea crisis had been created in the country after flour, sugar, medicines and petrol.

The former interior minister said instead of taking preventive measures, the PTI-led government was “busy applauding the increase in tourism there”. He said neither the government nor the Murree administration could be seen in action when heavy snowstorms left more than 20 people dead.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2022