Status quo forces gang up against Imran Khan

Today’s economic crisis is the result of policies pursued by the PPP and PML-N government during the last ten years. Former finance minister Ishaq Dar is to blame for greater measure, as he not only maintained rupee/dollar price artificially and through manipulations. In the last year of PML-N government, the imports were to the tune of $60 bn and imports $22 bn; hence trade deficit of $38 bn. After taking into consideration of remittances of $20 bn from oversees Pakistanis, the current account deficit was $18 bn. It was natural that rupee will lose its value due to demand for the dollars. Apart from his canny way of running finance ministry, Ishaq Dar managed to fudge the figures. According to anchorperson/analysts Sami Ibrahim, Ishaq Dar is alleged to have taken loans for $32 bn in the name of various companies formed on the pattern of Punjab government, and the government gave sovereign guarantee for those loans.
According to Sami Ibrahim, this loan did not figure in budget documents but appear in the total foreign loan figures. In fact, he is directly responsible for the economic mess we are in. Ishaq Dar is accused of having assets beyond means, and he did not surrender himself to the courts as per law of Pakistan. Dar, who faces trials in Pakistani courts and has been declared a proclaimed absconder for his failure to return, recently did a round of TV interviews, where he slammed the incumbent government’s economic policies. He ehad borrowed $24 billion from external sources and injected those funds into our currency markets to keep the rupee value high. This way, he kept the deficits growing, and the rupee value remained high, but the economy is on the verge of collapse. There is a perception that PML-N government intentionally created such situation so tht nobody could mend it.
Those who had plundered national wealth are ganging up against Imran Khan. Even big business and industrialists who feel that now there would be rule of law and they will have to pay due taxes to the government are also in the market to fail Imran government. However, Imran Khan is determined to take the country out of the present crisis. People of Pakistan especially youth, inspired by Imran Khan who made promises of ensuring good governance and improving the lives of teeming millions, had thronged polling stations in May 2018 general elections. However, they are feeling the pangs of flawed decisions and ineptness of the earlier governments that resulted in ballooning trade deficit, current account deficit, fiscal deficit, and unsustainable debt accumulated especially during the last ten years. Because of previous governments’ arrangements with IPPs, cost of electricity became unbearable for the common man as well as for industry.
The opposition and a section of media are critical of the decisions taken by the government such as inducting unelected technocrats in the government to use their expertise to overcome economic challenges. The debate is raging over shuffle in the cabinet by Imran Khan increasing pressure on the government and indirectly targeting the establishment for backing the government. The fact of the matter is that PML-N and PPP top leaders face charges of corruption and for amassing wealth beyond means. But neither military establishment nor PTI was responsible for putting them in the dock, as the process had started after Panama Leaks. However, despite enough time given by the courts they could not present money trail to prove that the assets they possessed were made through legitimate means. Instead of giving proof and evidence, they have been targeting judiciary and military on the pretext that it was a conspiracy against them.