Proud of being apple of establishment’s eye: Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said he takes pride in being the apple of the establishment’s eye for the past 30 years, observing that a hybrid system that works for the country’s progress is better.

During a breakfast meeting with senior journalists and anchorpersons at the Prime Minister’s House, he answered questions about the economy, legislation and the impression of increasing military influence in civilian matters, besides media freedom and other sensitive subjects, during his 16-month tenure.

Senior journalists and anchorpersons associated with various TV channels were invited to the Prime Minister’s House farewell ceremony before the announcement about the country’s caretaker PM.

During his conversation, Prime Minister Sharif stated that throughout his 16-month tenure, he made concerted efforts not to react to both his criticism and praise for his performance in the media.

He spoke in detail about his government’s economic performance. He said his coalition government’s 16-month term was full of challenges, every front posed difficulties, and the most difficult challenge was in the economic field. He mentioned that after the agreement with IMF, some stability was achieved in the economy, and the looming threats of default disappeared, but the issue of inflation persisted.

The PM admitted that his coalition government was unable to provide relief to the common man during the 16 months. However, he claimed that in the last four months of his government, inflation came down slightly, but more was needed to be done to bring it down further and provide relief to the common man.

Following this, a series of questions began, in which Prime Minister Sharif answered questions about the possibilities of delay in upcoming elections, hastily passed legislation in conflict with fundamental human rights, and the nature of civil-military relations during his government, besides various other sensitive issues.

The journalists and anchorpersons raised more questions about the recent legislation passed by the government, in which most bills were approved by parliament in haste without being sent to committees, including amendments to the Army Act and Official Secrets Act, which drew criticism of the government.

A question was posed to the prime minister about why the amendments to the Army Act and Official Secrets Act were rushed through parliament without being sent to relevant parliamentary committees for deliberation, which also faced opposition from within coalition parties.

In response, the prime minister stated that the amendments to these laws were necessary. He gave the example of a recent incident where an intelligence officer was martyred on duty, and all the information was shared in the media and social media, causing difficulties for the martyr’s family. Therefore, the amendments were necessary to the Official Secrets Act to prevent such incidents, he said.

During the conversation, questions were also raised again and again about the military’s footprint and intervention in civilian and economic matters, to which the PM admitted that during his 16-month tenure, there had been an increase in his working relationship with the military leadership. He stated that if the hybrid model is better for the country’s progress, there is no harm in it.

The prime minister said that the military is thinking about the country’s progress, and the establishment of the SIFC is an example of this, in which the military and civil leadership is working together for investment in sectors like agriculture, IT and minerals.

Giving the example of SIFC, he said the SIFC was under the control of the prime minister, which showed that the military was playing its part in the national development under the civilian leadership.

On this occasion, the prime minister was asked why, apart from promoting investment in the country, he was giving credit to the chief of the army staff for the success of the Bhara Kahu Bypass project.

In response, he said that the agreement for the Bhara Kahu project was with the NLC, and the work had been slow. He said he asked the army chief to speed up the work so that it was completed during his term in power. In response, he said, the army chief ensured timely completion of the project, due to which he gave credit to him.

In answer to a question from a journalist, the PM also remarked that that his relations with the establishment had remained cordial, not only with the current establishment but also with every establishment and he was proud of that.

He asked the journalist to tell him with which establishment he thought he had sour relations

Other topics were also discussed during the conversation, and the PM was asked whether elections would be held within 90 days in the country. In response, he said that after the new census, it was his responsibility to notify it, and the responsibility of holding timely elections after the new census was handed over to the Election Commission.

The issue of debt repayment was also raised in questions, to which he said that the volume of debt repayment had increased, and the government needed to work diligently in this area, along with the need for consistent policies.