After Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the country's nuclear programme was aimed at deterrence, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) alleged that he was brought to power to fulfil the 'foreign agenda' of rolling back the nuclear programme.
In an interview with a US journalist, Imran Khan said that Pakistan's nuclear programme has "only one purpose" -- deterrence. "It's not an offensive thing," he said, reported Dawn.
Responding to the remarks, Ahsan Iqbal, the PML-N's party's secretary-general in the National Assembly, on Tuesday said: "Who has given the right to this prime minister to say that Pakistan's nuclear programme is negotiable?"
"The cat is now out of the bag. Imran Khan has been brought (to power) to roll back Pakistan's nuclear programme. This is the agenda of the foreign donors," he stated, alleging that the purpose of giving the statement was to send a message that Pakistan was ready to roll back its deterrence.
"Pakistan's nuclear deterrence is non-negotiable," Iqbal declared.
Meanwhile, regarding Pakistan's federal budget, which has caused much chaos in the National Assembly, Iqbal warned that a new and "worst wave" of price hike would hit the nation after the passage of the finance bill and that the country was passing a "non-planned phase" due to "directionless policies" of the present government, Dawn reported.
The PML-N leader regretted that while carrying out character assassination of the opposition, Imran Khan had started a "character assassination of Pakistan itself".
Slamming the premier for declaring Pakistan a country of "the corrupt and money launderers" in his speeches at international forums, he said that the country's ministers wanted to make the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects controversial through their statements.
Meanwhile, retired Major Tahir Sadiq and Noor Alam Khan of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) blasted their own government over loadshedding and price hike, Dawn reported.
They also criticised the budget "for offering nothing to the poor".
Noor Alam Khan, a PTI MNA (Member of National Assembly) from Peshawar, expressed his concern over inflation and asked the government to bring down the prices of electricity and petroleum products.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented the budget 2021-22 in front of Parliament, where he said that the government targeted 4.8 per cent growth.
The finance minister was greeted by jeers from the Opposition benches, with members shouting slogans and taunting the finance minister by laughing loudly as he praised PM Imran Khan's economic initiatives.
Recently, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman lashed out at the ruling government, terming the country's budget a 'pack of lies'.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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