Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday reiterated to the nation that the incumbent government will step down for an interim setup next month after the completion of its tenure to pave the way for general elections later this year.
“In August 2023, we will give responsibility to the interim government,” he said in a nationally televised address, as he summarized the events of the past year since the ruling coalition came into power in April 2022. “[We] cleaned up the mess of four years in 15 months and doused the fire that had engulfed the economic and foreign relations front,” he said, stressing that the ruling coalition’s priority had been to “save the state, not politics.”
This was the second time in as many days that the prime minister has maintained that the incumbent government would step down in August, with elections to follow in 60-90 days. Addressing an event in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said the government’s tenure would expire on Aug. 14, adding the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would then announced polls in either “October or November.”
Maintaining that he believed Pakistan could overcome all “conspiracies” against it through hard work, he lamented that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program inked by the ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government had hampered economic recovery. “However, now the new stand-by agreement has been signed,” he said, as he thanked China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for “sincerely” cooperating with Islamabad during a difficult phase in its history.
Claiming the government had developed a comprehensive plan for economic recovery, he said the one-and-a-quarter years it had spent in power had showed the country a light of hope. The coalition, he maintained, was “one of its kind” in Pakistan’s democratic history, as it was formed for a brief time amidst the toughest challenges and difficulties. “During the short period of one and a quarter years, due to our collective wisdom and prudent policies, we cleared the rubble of destruction and economic landmines laid by the previous government,” he said.
The ruling coalition, he said, had laid ground for investment in agriculture, industry, energy and defense sectors by Gulf countries. He summarized recent initiatives, such as a comprehensive national plan for economic revival, and highlighted the establishment of the Special Investment Facilitation Council to attract significant investments from Gulf countries. He also assured the nation that the federal government, provincial governments, and armed forces were adopting a whole-of-government approach to ensure the success of the national agenda.
“The confidence of the business and investment community is slowly being restored,” he said, adding the focus must now shift to breaking the “cycle of debt” that has entrapped Pakistan. “This period of our government was a journey of moving from the destruction towards construction, economic stability, helping flood victims, relief to inflation-hit people, and revival of freedom of speech and national integration,” he added.
“Let’s erase hatred, share love, become one nation,” he said, while acknowledging inflationary pressures and unemployment and vowing to take corrective measures to ensure relief for the common man.