ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers Saturday strongly criticised the government for allegedly pursuing anti-poor and anti-farmer policies that are systematically weakening the country’s economy, also decried relief in super tax to the benefit of the wealthy.
They claimed that these policies were burdening the underprivileged with rising taxes, and deliberately slashing public sector development spending to make room for its own royal-style expenditures.
Speaking at a joint news conference here, PTI lawmakers said the rulers are directly responsible for the worsening economic situation, as they continue to increase their own lavish expenditures instead of reducing them, acting like monarchs at the expense of public resources while ordinary citizens bear the burden of economic hardship.
PTI MNAs Usama Mela, Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood, Mubeen Arif Jutt, and Shandana Gulzar painted a grim picture of the nation’s agriculture, economy, and law-and-order situation, exposing the massive disconnect between the government’s fabricated statistics and the harsh ground realities.
Usama highlighted that the agriculture sector, which is the biggest employer and the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, is facing total collapse under the PML-N government. He pointed out the government set a 6pc growth target for major crops but barely managed to achieve 0.5pc to 0.6pc.
“Despite this, they falsely portrayed positive growth in the budget. For instance, the government claimed an 11pc growth in potato cultivation despite the fact that the farmers destroyed standing crops due to losses. Cotton cultivation has declined significantly, and that agriculture has failed to achieve even 0.6pc growth against a target of 6pc,” he noted.
Due to crippling taxation policies, he continued, the total cultivable area for cotton has been drastically reduced from 2.4 million to just 5.5 lakh acres.
Usama charged that historically, whenever the PMLN comes to power, agriculture declines. During their previous 2013-2018 tenure, the average growth rate hovered around 1.5pc.
Shandana Gulzar explained what she claimed the stark contrast between the economic stability of Imran Khan’s era and the current government’s manipulation of data to hide their failures.
Referring to World Bank reports, Shandana said the current regime is lying about figures across every sector, from agriculture and poverty to petrol prices, education, and healthcare. During Imran Khan’s regime, she revealed that rural poverty stood at 28pc, which surged to 36pc under the current government, adding that the government is set to pay a staggering Rs8 trillion in debt servicing, while throwing a meagre Rs1 trillion toward vital development spending.
She wondered that tax relief, in the form of a reduction in the super tax, has been handed to wealthy industrialists and big businesses, while the government has cruelly taxed essential household items that the poor rely on to survive.
The PTI MNA recalled that during the entire tenure, PTI founder increased petrol prices by only Rs32, adding that the current government’s minor reductions are entirely insufficient; as true relief will only be achieved when petrol is brought down to Rs150 per litre.
Khawaja Sheraz slammed the government for its total lack of will to focus on agriculture, which directly links to 25pc of the GDP.
He said that Pakistan once produced 16 million bales of cotton, trailing India by only one million bales. Today, he revealed that Pakistan’s output has crashed to nearly 5 million bales, forcing the import of over $4 billion in cotton and yarn, while India now produces around 40 million bales annually.
The party legislator noted that the Federal Seed Certification Department was abolished under the guise of downsizing and reforming and replaced with a Seed Authority. Ironically, he added that instead of reforms, the government hired new personnel at more than double the previous salaries, rendering the institution counterproductive.
Sheraz said that despite a surplus of sugar, the government imported more simply to benefit sugar mill owners because they enjoyed powers, adding that the government often blamed the IMF for crushing the public with inflation, fuel levies, and tough decisions, however they ignored IMF objections when their own financial interests are at stake.
He regretted that wheat growers are facing raids and harassment, and claimed that wheat storage is being handed over to private entities instead of government facilities. The PTI MNA criticised the Punjab governance, saying that the excessive control through administrative and policing structures and describing the situation as extremely alarming.
Mubeen Arif Jutt condemned the administration of Punjab, stating that the government has appointed assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners to act as “mini chief ministers,” effectively tying the hands of the public.
He said that the government had mercilessly slashed spending on public welfare projects but refuses to cut its own luxuries, adding that public funds are being squandered on personal publicity, such as renaming public hospitals after the Sharif family. “This money belongs to the people, not the Sharif family,” Arif stated.
The PTI lawmaker said that Punjab Police and CTD had gained a “notorious reputation” for spreading fear, destroying the province’s investment climate, adding that overseas Pakistanis, who sustain the economy by remitting around $4 billion monthly, are being targeted. He stated that people of Punjab are being punished for not voting PMLN.
Arif stressed that petroleum levy must be reduced, reiterating that imposing such levies is the sole prerogative of Parliament, not a tool for a monarchy-like regime to bypass the law.
Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday completely rejected the recent reduction in petroleum product prices and called it a serious joke with people, saying this so-called relief is actually a failed attempt to deceive people.
The party maintained that the people who are already crushed in the mill of inflation are facing severe difficulties. It called for bringing prices of petroleum products down to Rs220 per litre.
“Despite the clear decline in oil prices in the global market, the government has deliberately kept the prices of petrol unnecessarily high. The fact is that petrol prices should be lower than the pre-war level, but the government is continuously robbing the pockets of the people through heavy taxes, petroleum levy and other levies,” it was noted.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf demands that the government immediately abolish the petroleum levy and other unnecessary taxes, significantly reduce prices and provide real, immediate and effective relief to the people. Otherwise, it is clear that the government is not serious about solving the problems of the people but is just wasting time through showy measures,” it was stressed.
