Nawaz asks Maryam, Sanaullah to ‘lead’ PMl-N in Punjab ahead of polls

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz

(PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has asked the party’s Senior VicePresident and Chief Organiser

Maryam Nawaz and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to lead rallies and meetings ahead of the upcoming elections in Punjab.

A meeting between the three took place on Tuesday in London, during which the three-time prime minister instructed the two senior members of the party regarding their roles in the political endeavours of the party in the months leading up to the general elections in the province.

Nawaz assigned tasks related to Punjab’s politics to Sanaullah and also instructed the latter to mobilise party workers in the province for the upcoming elections. At the meeting, the party seniors consulted on the appointments of the leadership in Punjab and on the inter-party elections.

The PML-N supremo, while handing the responsibility to Maryam and Sanaullah, said that people should be told the “truth” and that the “false narrative” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan should be exposed.

The federal minister is set to return to the country on January 28 — the same day as Maryam. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that there had been changes in the plans for Maryam’s return. Taking to Twitter, she wrote: “There has been a change in the time of Pakistan Muslim League (N)’s senior vice president and chief organ- izer Maryam Nawaz’s return home.

Maryam Nawaz sahiba will now reach Lahore at 3:50pm on Saturday, January 28.”

Maryam has been in London since October of last year to spend time with her father, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

During an interaction with journalists in London earlier, Sanaullah has also expressed hopes that the PML-N supremo will land in the country “soon” and will chair the party’s parliamentary board to finalise candidates for the elections. He also hinted at his possible resignation to help PML-N’s campaign efforts. “Few senior party leaders, including me, should resign to run election campaign along with Nawaz Sharif,” he suggested, as the general polls in Pakistan’s biggest provinces are expected to take

In a detailed statement issued after the meeting, Bostan said that the decision to cap the dollar rate had proved to be “negative”.

“Instead of falling, the dollar rate increased, resulting in the unavailability of the greenback in the market which also gave birth to the black market.”

He further lamented that citizens that wished to buy dollars for travelling or funding their education and health expenses were not able to do so and had to turn to the black market.

The exchange rate has been primarily hit hard by a steep decline in the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, which have shrunk to $4.6 billion. Currency experts say the rupee has been falling “despite being managed” by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Amid a shortage of dollars, the gap between its rates in the interbank and open markets has significantly widened, drastically hurting the economy and diverting remittances from the legal banking channel to the grey market.

Some experts have hinted that the shortage of dollars could cause rationing of petrol and diesel in the next two to three months, ultimately hitting the trade and industry and even the agricultural sector, which needs diesel during the harvesting season.

On Tuesday, ECAP Chairman Malik Bostan chaired a meeting of the association that was also attended by General Secretary Zafar Paracha.

He said that the situation had created a “panic in the market”, leading the government to believe exchange companies were “deliberately blackmailing” them.

“Keeping these things in mind, we made a decision.” He further said that the association had a meeting with the central bank tomorrow at 9am.

“We have a meeting with the SBP deputy governor tomorrow morning as the governor is in Islamabad,” Bostan said. “We will take them into confidence over the decision place within 90 days.

The elections are set to take place in the province within the next three months after the former chief minister, Parvez Elahi, dissolved the assembly on Khan’s directions. As a result of the dissolution, Moshin Naqvi has been appointed as the caretaker chief minister by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for 90 days, until the polls take place — as the then-government and opposition could not form a consensus on the appointment.

However, the PTI has rejected his appointment and vowed to challenge the appointment in the courts and lead rallies against Naqvi and the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led (PDM) government in the centre.

Source: thenews.com.pk

[…] the cap imposed in national interest has proven to be negative.”

He further said, “The dollar rate will begin decreasing once the black market stops operating. I would like to tell the nation that exchange companies aren’t able to get dollars from anywhere which is causing the shortage.”

“When people are able to purchase dollars easily, the rate of the greenback will automatically start to decrease,” the ECAP chairman said. “Remittances will also increase when the intermarket and the pre-market rate becomes the same.”

At the same time, Bostan also called on the nation to “boycott the dollar”.

“Pakistan is going through a crisis and needs each and every single dollar. They should boycott the dollar, apart from those using the greenback to undertake necessary travel or fund their education and health expenses.”

Source: dawn.com