LAHORE: Opposition parties have taken Prime Minster Imran Khan to task for his maiden speech after taking oath, pointing out the flaws in it.

The PPP said Imran had ignored important issues like minority rights, deprivations of small federating units and foreign policy in his maiden address to the nation and that he mostly talked like an ideologue instead of giving a pragmatic solution to the problems of the masses.

In a statement issued here on Monday,PPP federal council member Munawwar Anjum said the prime minister had overlooked altogether minority and women rights and failed to condemn terrorists and acknowledge sacrifices of those who lost their lives during the election campaign.

In Imran`s address, one could not find mention of Kashmir and northern areas who offered sacrifices for the cause of Pakistan, he said and added that the PM issued no policy statement on neighbouring India and Afghanistan and that his address lacked pragmatism and was full of idealism.

Tehreek-i-Istiqlal President Rehmat Khan Wardag said the prime minister had nothing new in his address as he just reiterated what he had been saying in his party`s public meetings. However, he added, even if 10pc of what Imran talked of was imple-mented the country would attain economic and political stability.

The Pakistan Workers Confederation welcomed the PM`s address and the programme he had given for steering the country out of the financial crisis.

PWC leaders Chaudhry Naseem, Yaqoob, Fazle Wahid Mukhtar Awan and Aima Mahmood said Imran had hit the right notes in his speech but ignored the working class, which was expecting that the new PM would compensate the industrial workers for the past injustices they had to face.

Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq said that Prime Minister Imran had referred to most of the problems facing Pakistanis but it would have been better had he also talked of the Kashmir issue and the blockade of Pakistan`s river waters by India.

In a statement, Siraj said India`s occupa-tion of Kashmir, the genocide of Kashmiris and the thef t of Pakistan`s river waters were among the major issues being faced by the country and the PM should also have expressed resolve for the solution of the same.

Mr Haq said the JI did not believe in opposition for the sake of opposition and it would open-heartedly appreciate every good policy of the government as it wanted well-being of the country and its people over and above all political biases.

He said the nation was keenly awaiting the strict accountability promised by Imran Khan. He said the JI wanted the government to take such legal and practical measures as would close the doors of corruption and hold the plunderers accountable.