Nawaz Sharif slams opposition for hampering progress

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said the sit-ins organised to oust him by opposition leader Imran Khan in the capital caused huge economic losses and hampered the country's progress.

"The protests are playing with Pakistan's progress and blocking its way to prosperity but soon we would leave them behind and the country move forward," Sharif told reporters after addressing a two-day investment conference titled "Invest Pakistan: priority sectors and legal framework for investment in the country."

He emphasised that the Pakistani rupee had weakened against the US dollar.

Sharif expressed hope of moving ahead and vowed to overcome hurdles to lay foundation for mature politics.

Noting that the protests caused the cancellation of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit last month, he lamented that Pakistan's foreign friends were unhappy with politics of agitation.

Pakistan opposition leader and Tahreek-i-Insaf Party chairman Imran Khan along with cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri launched their protests in a bid to oust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on August 14 and had vowed to remain in Islamabad till the removal of government led by him.

Qadri has, however, ended his over two months-long anti-government protest in the Pakistani capital.