Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday claimed he will work to curb inflation if his Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is voted into power after general elections due later this year—though did not offer any explanation of how he would achieve this.
Speaking in Dubai with various delegations of the PMLN from Gulf countries, Radio Pakistan reported him as saying that his party would overcome all problems faced by Pakistanis. Since traveling to London for medical treatment in 2019, Sharif has remained in self-exile, with repeated promises of his impending return to Pakistan falling by the wayside.
Despite his brother, Shehbaz Sharif, being elected prime minister after PTI chief Imran Khan was ousted through a vote of no-conference, there has been no visible attempt by the elder Sharif to return, with critics and supporters alike questioning him over his role in Pakistan’s politics while living abroad.
Sharif’s promise of tackling inflation is especially telling, as the incumbent ruling coalition ousted Khan through a vote of no-confidence on promises of reducing prices and evolving consensus on national matters. However, instead of curbing price hikes, the government’s policies caused them to increase to record-high levels, with monthly inflation exceeding 30 percent in February and hitting a peak of 38 percent in May, year-on-year.
Ahead of Eidul Azha, Sharif traveled to Dubai, where he and his daughter, PMLN chief organizer Maryam Nawaz, met with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. While neither party has issued any formal statement on their meetings, it has been reported their discussions primarily dealt with the establishment of an interim setup for the next general elections and a potential power-sharing formula if they emerge victorious in the polls.
Referring to the state of the economy under the ruling coalition, PTI leader Hammad Azhar—who has been evading arrest since the May 9 riots—alleged on Twitter that the government had tripled the inflation rate and led to a collapse of industrial growth. He claimed the public had no hope for prosperity from the incumbent rulers.