ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan in his National Assembly speech Tuesday said India was responsible for the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) attack in Karachi a day earlier, saying it was planned to destablise the country.
PM Imran lauded the security forces for thwarting the attack, which, he said, could have otherwise caused considerable destruction. “We have no doubt that India is behind the attack,” he told the lower House of the parliament.
“My cabinet knew for the last two months [that there would be an attack and] I had informed my ministers. All our agencies were on high alert,” he added.
The prime minister paid his respects to the martyrs of the attack, which included a police officer and two PSX security guards.
In yesterday’s attack on the stock exchange in Pakistan’s financial capital, security forces had killed all four terrorists in retaliatory response after they opened indiscriminate fire.
‘Difficult budget’
Speaking on the recently-passed budget, the premier thanked his allies and said there was a lot of speculation about it. “Someone watching TV a night before the budget [was presented] would have thought those were the last days of the government.”
He said the coronavirus had affected economies around the world and this year’s federal budget turned out to be quite an uphill task for the government.
“We had to accumulate Rs5 trillion rupees initially but because of the virus our accumulation dropped down to Rs3 trillion,” he told the NA, referring to the revenue target.
The prime minister added that the government could not incur the losses caused by the “unprecedented” pandemic. He explained that despite the criticism, his leadership had reopened the construction sector and imposed a ‘smart’ lockdown in areas with a surge in the coronavirus cases.
“We were not the ones suffering from confusion but those who are not familiar with the woes of poor,” he said.
More to follow…
