Shehbaz Sharif told that tenure of his government would end in August and a caretaker government would be formed, while Election Commission would announce the date for elections.

Shehbaz Sharif told that tenure of his government would end in August and a caretaker government would be formed, while Election Commission would announce the date for elections.

Replying to a question, he said Nawaz Sharif would be their candidate for the post of prime minister while chief minister Punjab would be decided after consultation. He informed that a committee had been formed for selecting name of a caretaker prime minister.

National Accountability Court and other courts would decide about the cases of Imran Niazi and law would take its own course and he had nothing to do with legal issues of the PTI leader, he added.

He criticized Imran Niazi for making demand for early dissolution of National Assembly saying it was prerogative of prime minister to decide fate of the lower house.
He further said Imran Niazi only conspired against the progress and stability of Pakistan and was not interested in dialogue with the government on the timing of elections. Dialogue with PTI on holding of election was done with the consent of Nawaz Sharif.

He said despite severe economic hardship and conditions of IMF, the federal government increased salaries of employees by 35 percent and pensions by 17.5 percent. Similarly, the Punjab government also raised salaries by the same percentage. It was right of the poor people to be protected from inflation, he remarked.

He apprised that the federal government provided Rs 100 billion to the provinces for relief and rehabilitation of people affected by floods.
He said 53 per cent of the poorest of the poor would not be impacted by the recent hikes in the electricity rates. The reasons for the hike in power tariff were circular debt of Rs 2000 billion, line losses and power theft, he added.

The prime minister said in the cases of leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party, the courts did not provide them immediate relief but on the other hand, the courts stopped investigations into the scandals of the PTI government. The project of the Orange Line train was delayed for two years due to a stay by the apex court, he recalled.

He said courts speedily gave bail to Imran Niazi in his cases while Nawaz Sharif and his daughter were asked to appear in court even on a holiday of Saturday. Nawaz Sharif along with his daughter appeared 100 times in the courts.
He respected courts but the leadership of PML (N) was discriminated against and they had to raise their issues in the Parliament against the attitude of some judges, he added.

He revealed that during the government of PTI, the richest people in Pakistan were given $ three billion worth of loans at the interest rate of only four per cent. Those loans should have been given to students of backward areas and should have been spent on their training and imparting of skills, he stressed.

To a question, Shehbaz Sharif said Imran Niazi committed fraud of 190 million pounds and illegally transferred the amount to the Supreme Court from the United Kingdom after becoming a party in the case and signing an agreement with UK’s National Crime Agency and getting approval from the cabinet in secrecy with a sealed envelope.

He informed that Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan after permission from his doctor and would face cases, adding already his party’s Quaid was being acquitted in some of the bogus cases filed against him.

To another question, he said armed forces had close coordination with the government in matters of defence and they had the forum of the National Security Committee to discuss matters. They were two wheels of a vehicle and needed close coordination to take the country forward, he added.