Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi shows mirror to Pak PM Imran after his ludicrous dig at India

Giving it back to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his ludicrous attempt to take shots at India, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said the leader should not justify his government's flouting of World Health Organisation (WHO)-advised lockdown by dragging India into their narrative even as Pakistan reports record daily spikes in Coronavirus cases.

Hailing Pakistan's 'successful' cash transfer program, Imran Khan, on Thursday, offered to help India in mimicking his direct cash transfer, based on a report claiming that '84% Indian households suffered monthly income decrease'. Citing the same report he claimed that '34% of all households won't survive a week without cash assistance'.

Chaturvedi retweeted Khan's tweet and exposed the leader's narrow attempt to trick his own countrymen by changing the narrative and deflect the attention of his government's failings.

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The study cited by Imran Khan was based on data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) was published on May 12 — a day before PM Modi announced the Rs 20 lakh crore 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' package to kickstart the Indian economy.

IMF's loan to Pakistan

While India has not requested funds to tide over the COVID-19 crisis from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the direct cash transfer 'hailed' by Khan is a bailout handed by IMF via a three-year loan requested by Khan. In April 2020, he  IMF approved the disbursement of $1.386 billion to Pakistan under the Rapid Financing Instrument to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 shock. This aid was in addition to the $6 billion loan provided by IMF to Khan in July 2019, with a $ 1 billion tranche immediately available.

Pakistan has so far reported 1,22,574 cases of COVID-19, of which 2394 patients have died while 38,391 people have recovered. According to Johns Hopkins University data, the country ranks 15 among the most affected countries in the world.

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