Pakistani government celebrates 'successful' two years as opposition calls out failures

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani opposition leaders on Tuesday criticised the central government for what they described as its failure to govern and rescue the nation from economic crisis during its two years in power, as top ministers held a press conference to present their achievements.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was sworn in as prime minister on August 18, 2018, with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party sweeping to power in a landmark election on a populist platform, vowing to root out corruption among a venal elite, create 10 million jobs, build an Islamic welfare state and restore Pakistan’s tattered image abroad.
“2 years of PTI government have been an unmitigated disaster,” opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif wrote on Twitter. “From foreign policy to economy to governance, IK’s mismanagement of national affairs has increased the woes of the masses manifold. People continue to pay heavy price for this failed experiment in political engineering.”
Chairman of opposition Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said:
"2 years in power & @ImranKhanPTI has given us the worst economy in our country’s history, foreign policy failures from Kashmir to Saudi, democracy & human rights suffering , unemployment at an all time high, transparency international has said corru (corrupt) PTI on is higher than before.”
But key cabinet ministers, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Adviser on Finance Hafeez Sheikh and Information Minister Shibli Faraz, held a press conference and hailed the government’s two years as a ‘success.’
Sheikh said that neutral international observers had acknowledged economic progress made by Pakistan despite the coronavirus crisis.
Due to the government's policies, organisations like Moody's, Fitch and Bloomberg had improved Pakistan's rating, the PM’s advisor on finance said, adding that the current account deficit had reduced from $20 billion to three billion dollars.
Qureshi said Pakistan had played a key role in peace talks in Afghanistan to end an 18 year old civil war and stressed on “economic diplomacy.”
"A dramatic shift can be seen from diplomatic isolation to effective representation," he said, saying that PM Khan had "internationalised" the Kashmir dispute with India and highlighted rights abuses for India security forces.