Pak PM made good use of fund-raising skills, his begging bowl never came back empty: Analyst
Feb 02, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 2 : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has received heavy criticism from experts for travelling around the world with a "begging bowl" seeking financial support as people in his country continue to suffer from inflation and price rise.
Pakistan is going through a very difficult phase again with a begging bowl in hand, however "since becoming Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan has made good use of his fund-raising skills, and the begging bowl has never come back empty, said Shabir Choudhry in his blog, a political analyst.
Choudhary ridiculed Khan for his experience in fundraising. "The man (Imran Khan) has tremendous experience in fundraising. He is smart, persuasive, and shrewd," he added.
The expert gave the example of a renowned welfare organization called Edhi Foundation, which has seven decades of experience in collecting money from people and helping the poor. Imran Khan met Faisal Edhi, head of the Edhi Foundation, and instead of providing funds for his brilliant work for the poor and the needy, managed to obtain a big amount of Rs 10 million from him.
Mocking Imran Khan, Choudhry said, "This shows how good he is as a fundraiser." Moreover, this week he is going to China for a multi-purpose visit. Apart from requesting more money from China, he will also be requesting the Presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan.
His target is to collect USD 3 billion from China, USD 1 billion from Russia, and USD 1 billion from Kazakhstan.
"Despite his valuable experience, smartness, and shrewdness, it is a difficult task to bag USD 5 billion. However, I am sure that Khan will not come back empty-handed, as China will provide more funds in order to protect their previous funding," scorned Choudhry.
In addition to fundraising, Imran Khan will try to woo the Chinese to trust him with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is in extensive care because of the Pakistani government's lack of interest, irresponsibility and wrong policies, added Choudhry.
China is not happy with Imran Khan and his government over what they had done to the CPEC. As per Choudhry, Khan is there to persuade China of full support for the second phase of the CPEC with new enthusiasm and determination. He and his team will try to persuade the Chinese that they should trust his wisdom, as he will personally oversee the CPEC projects, and ensure the implementation.
"I am sure the Chinese are not that naive to buy this at its face value. They may know that wherever Imran Khan has taken a personal interest in affairs of Pakistan and governance, he has made a mess of that magnitude that could not be corrected easily," he wrote.
Beijing will be reluctant to trust the Pakistani government because of past lies, mistrust, and letdowns. For example, after the Dasu terrorism in which many Chinese died Pakistan said, bus tire burst which resulted in the accident. The Chinese did not agree with that, as they knew it was a terrorist attack, and they demanded compensation for the families of the deceased.
Imran Khan is going to China for the inauguration of the Winter Olympics, which is boycotted by many countries of the West. During the visit, Imran Khan will not have an opportunity to meet Chinese President Xi or other important Chinese leaders.
"This does not serve the interests of Imran Khan and his team. They wanted to send this message that Imran Khan is still an important person in the world," said the blogger.