‘Quran, atom bomb suitcase’: Pak leader’s solution to severe economic crisis

That’s right! Quran and Atom Bomb. 

Not one, but a suitcase of Atom Bomb. 

The leader said that the Pakistan government has been going door to door seeking ‘alms’ to bring them out of the economic depression. “You have been asking for help from other nations, but why are you doing so?” the leader asked. 

He said that instead everyone should carry the Quran in their right hand and a suitcase of atom bombs in their left hand and reach Sweden. 

He added, “go to Sweden with your entire group and tell them you have come here to protect the Quran…All the boons/blessings of this world will come to you.”

Pakistan’s full-blown economic turmoil, from its biggest ever currency devaluation to a rash of emergency spending cuts, offers the clearest sign yet that the nuclear-armed nation faces the risk of a default unless it receives massive support.

Pushed to the brink by last year’s devastating floods, the South Asian nation has reserves of just $3.7 billion remaining, or barely enough for three weeks of essential imports, while hotly contested elections are due by November.

It desperately needs the International Monetary Fund to release an overdue tranche of $1.1 billion, leaving $1.4 billion remaining in a stalled bailout programme set to end in June.

A devaluation of 15% in the Pakistani rupee and a rise last week in fuel prices could help eliminate some key snags, particularly as tax measures are apparently imminent.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s main election challenger is former cricket star Imran Khan, who was removed from the job last April but retains popularity. Each blames the other for the crisis, although finances have long been strained.

With Pakistan’s debt-to-GDP ratio in a danger zone of 70%, and between 40% and 50% of government revenues earmarked for interest payments this year, only default-stricken Sri Lanka, Ghana, and Nigeria are worse off.

(With inputs from Reuters)