ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday slammed the Punjab government’s budget, billing it the latest masterpiece of incompetence, which treated the agriculture sector, contributing nearly a quarter of the nation’s GDP, like an unwanted guest at their own party.
Commenting on the budget, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram noted that while farmers battle skyrocketing costs, heat-waves and broken tube-wells, this regime was busy handing out lollipops and self-promotional advertisements.
“Brilliant strategy: keep the farmers starving while patting yourselves on the back,” he remarked and pointed out with alarm that food imports had shot up 15% to over $7 billion, while exports had crashed a staggering 34% to just $3.8 billion, a cool $3 billion hole in foreign exchange reserves.
Waqas said, “Congratulations! An agricultural economy “proudly” turning itself into a national embarrassment. At this rate, their dream of 4% growth will be achieved by the import bill, not the farms”.
He mocked the so-called “consultations” with farmers and said, “They threw a fancy meeting just seven days before the budget, listened to grievances with fake sympathy, nodded wisely, and then binned every single recommendation. Fertilizer subsidies? Tube-well electricity? Fair support prices? Sorry, not in this script. It was pure theatre: Thank you for your valuable input, now kindly get lost”.
He ridiculed the government’s silence on what he called the existential threats staring at farmers.
“Record heat-waves are roasting the cotton crop at critical stages, climate disasters are costing billions, and erratic monsoons are laughing at their ‘planning’. Yet their only vision remains short-term survival, photo-ops, and zero real support,” he lamented.
Waqas made the PTI Punjab Kissan Wing’s position crystal clear: no new taxes on agriculture or related inputs; What farmers actually need is predictable policies, affordable inputs, climate resilience, smart water management, and real markets, not this ongoing drama of indifference dressed up as governance.
Meanwhile, he strongly condemned the government’s alleged cruelty toward former prime minister Imran Khan and his family, calling the denial of meetings between the incarcerated leader and his sisters for over seven months a blatant violation of basic human decency and judicial orders.
“While the regime lectures the nation on family values, it has turned Imran Khan’s sisters into prisoners of political revenge, denying them even a glimpse of their brother. This is not governance; this is calculated torment inflicted on an entire family,” he stated.
He highlighted the “alarming health crisis” facing Imran Khan inside jail and noted due to deliberate neglect and lack of proper medical facilities, the Prisoner of Conscience had developed Central Retinal Vein Occlusion (CRVO), resulting in an 80 percent loss of vision in one eye.
