Imran Niazi is continuously playing with national interests to keep his politics alive: Ahsan Iqbal.

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD -- Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry on Sunday accused former prime minister Imran Khan of "playing with Pakistan's interests", alleging the ex-PM was attempting to revive his "failed politics" through rabble-rousing. Ahsan Iqbal said that the new government is working tirelessly to solve the issues faced by the country. He said that work is being done at a fast speed under Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's leadership. He said that Pakistan will keep moving forward and we will make the country's economy strong again.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Ahsan Iqbal said the National Security Committee (NSC) twice clarified that in Pakistani ambassador's diplomatic cable there is no mention of the possibility of any foreign conspiracy, which is related to regime change. He said that after this rectification of Pakistan's top intelligence agencies that no foreign interference has occurred in Pakistan regarding regime change and after the clarification of Pakistan's national institutions that no such thing has been mentioned in the National Security Committee meeting this thing should have been buried. However; "Imran Niazi is continuously playing with national interests to keep his politics alive." "If Pakistan wants to be a strong country, we need to have a strong economy," he said. "That can only happen when we align ourselves with the global economy."

Ahsan Iqbal said that when the PTI was in power, it had hampered the CPEC's progress and soured ties with the European Union, the United States and even brotherly Muslim countries, risking the isolation of the country.

He said he does not want Pakistan to turn into Cuba or North Korea. "We have to set Pakistan on the path of [development, like] Malaysia, Turkey, China and South Korea." Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan could not achieve fast pace economic progress without the Chinese investment and cooperation, adding that China had given CPEC project to Pakistan but Imran-government destroyed the CPEC project. Ahsan Iqbal said that during the three years time period of PML-N, $29 billion projects were materialized but during three years and nine months tenure of Imran khan not a single dollar new project came. He said that baseless corruption allegations were leveled against China.

He said that the PTI Government did not launch work even on a single industrial zone under CPEC out of nine, which were supposed to be completed by...