Imran Khan Ruined Pakistan's Economy: Nawaz Sharif Lashes Out At Ex-PM

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday lashed out at recently ousted Imran Khan while addressing a gathering with Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in London.

Nawaz Sharif, who is also the elder brother of current premier Shehbaz Sharif, held ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan responsible for the ruined Pakistani economy and said that much of his discussion with Bilawal Bhutto was on resurrecting the crashed economy.

"This four year period that we have seen, I have not seen such a period in my life. Somebody should ask the Pakistani people, are they getting bread, the poor should be asked are they getting medicines, are they getting sugar, somebody ask if their children are going to school... somebody please ask and tell me are they (the poor) able to pay the electricity bills," Sharif said.

He further said the exchange rate of the Pakistani rupee has been ruined and that it will take a long time to take the Pakistani Rupee back to its previous place.

He also expressed gratitude towards Bilawal Bhutto, for "ushering in a new morning" in Pakistani polity.

"We talked about a lot of things and I told Bilawal that he is young and the youth of the country should come forward and handle the affairs of Pakistan. Our parties believe in democracy and we have a track record in Pakistan. We have proved by serving the people that we take the people and the country in the right direction," Sharif said.

Talking about the politics of Pakistan under the Prime Ministership of Imran Khan, Sharif said that the political environment of the country had worsened in the four years of Khan's rule.

"There is a strange environment in Pakistan these days, an environment of mannerlessness," Sharif said, adding, "I have not seen such an environment in Pakistan politics in the last 70 years, that Imran Khan and his politics created (in the last three and a half years)".

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari departed for London on Thursday to meet former Pakistan Prime Minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to discuss the current political situation in the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)