KARACHI: Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor said that in order to provide food assistance to the poor, the government should revive the old ration card system.
He regretted that the government has already closed the Utility Stores Corporation that was providing food items to the people on subsidised rates. He alleged that the country was being run “on the dictation of foreign lenders” whose policies were always anti-people in their core.
He asked the government to overhaul the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and divert its funds to job creation.
He said millions of young Pakistanis are jobless who should be absorbed in agriculture sector or manpower export on urgent basis
The government has earmarked Rs838 billion for the BISP while this amount should have been spent on new employment opportunities, said Altaf Shakoor
He said supporting the weaker segments of society was always welcome, but the “focus should be on empowering them and not making them beggars”. He said the recent budget once again failed to empower the low-income classes.
He said all the tax burden once again was put on the salaried and urban classes, while powerful landlords and retailers were spared even from due taxation. He said this government, like the previous ones, was bent upon on getting more loans from the IMF and other lenders, further tightening the debt trap.
He said the rulers have enslaved Pakistan financially, and now about half of the total budget is being devoured by loans and their interest. He said only the bankers are being benefited by the government, adding “this budget was also of the bankers, by the bankers and for the bankers”.
He demanded a moratorium on new loans. He said Pakistan could not sustain more loans and the rulers should refrain from further increasing the debt burden.
He said agriculture and irrigation sectors should be given a serious focus, as they have a potential to create new jobs.
He said millions of acres of the barren lands in Pakistan could be cultivated by modifying our irrigation system.
He said drip irrigation should be made mandatory in Pakistan and the present mode of flood-irrigation should be banned to save water.
The PDP chief said saline water irrigation should be introduced in the coastal areas.
Altaf Shakoor called for the electoral system based on proportional representation (PR) in Pakistan to save the country from the rich political elite, “who are looting this nation with both hands”. He said electoral reforms are now overdue in Pakistan as the current electoral system has failed to deliver.
He said the IMF programs have never saved any country, as these loans are designed to enslave nations economically.
He asked to cap new loans and negotiate with the lenders to wave off or at least reduce interest on the present loans. He said instead of loans, grants should be secured from friendly countries to support the sagging economy.
He said agriculture, solar energy, tourism and export of manpower are the sectors that could salvage the falling Pakistan economy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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