ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership on Monday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led coalition government had completely failed on all fronts including the economy, foreign relations, energy, and security issues during the last two years. The PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, while addressing a press conference, lambasted the PTI-led government, and released a white paper over the two years' performance of the present government.
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, former interior minister Ahsan Iqabl, and other leaders, were also present on the occasion.
Sharif said the present government was the worst and incompetent government in the history of the country. They [the PTI government] neither know [anything about] governance nor is concerned about the problems faced by the public, he said, adding, in the last two years the rising inflation has made lives of the people miserable.
About increase in sugar prices, Sharif said the price of per kg sugar had surged to Rs100.
"Today we are importing while in the past Pakistan was exporting sugar," he said.
The PML-N president said for the first time in history, there was a shortage of wheat in the country prior to end of harvest season of the crop.
A minister on the floor of the assembly said government has procured 61 million tons of wheat but he does not know where the wheat has gone, he said.
Sharif said that oil prices went down in the world but the present government increased it suddenly.
"Electricity prices increased manifold but the circular debt is still out of control," he added.
"Despite adequate availability of electricity, there is hours long loadshedding in the country due to the incompetence of the government."
Sharif said the exports did not increase despite depreciating the rupee by 40 percent. He said for the first time the GDP had posted negative growth in 1957 and (today) for the second time GDP posted negative growth (0.4 percent).
"During the Nawaz Sharif era, four LNG projects worth 5,000 megawatts (MW) were implemented and per-unit cost did not exceed Rs12-13. In Nawaz Sharif's third term, no corruption took place in any of the projects," Sharif said.
"Our party is not against impartial accountability but the entire country is watching the pinning of opposition against the wall in the name of accountability," he said.
Sharif said that PTI leaders leveled serious allegations against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on the floor of the National Assembly but they could not establish a single allegation of corruption against the PML-N.
They leveled allegation but so far not a single penny's worth of corruption has been proven against the PML-N leadership. The PML-N president said that in spite of being cornered, we extended our hand for cooperation but they rejected it.
"Due to the failed policies and rising inflation, people want the 'old Pakistan'", Sharif said.
"Was that Pakistan better or is this Pakistan better?" he remarked.
Sharif said that even before the spread of the coronavirus in the country, due to the incompetence and incapability of the present government, millions lost jobs and yet more people would soon be unemployed.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Niazi 'nexus' has frightened the investors, he said, adding that despite the unprecedented support the present government has, every sector is on a downward trend.
Sharif said that they used to say earlier they would rather die than approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
To a question about All Parties Conference (APC), he said that he would hold meeting with opposition parties and the APC would be held soon. To another question about former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, he said his brother would return to the country after his complete recovery.
To a question about being a guarantor about Nawaz Sharif's return to the country, he said that the court record was available about what sort of guarantee he had offered.
The PML-N leader and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, said that the annexation of Kashmir by India was one of the biggest failure of foreign policy.
"We have fought wars with India over Kashmir, which demonstrates our commitment to Kashmir issue but the government has betrayed the blood of Kashmiris," he said. Asif also touched upon Pakistan's relations with other nations, saying the issue in Malaysia angered both Kuala Lumpur and Saudi Arabia.
"Millions of Pakistanis were working in these two countries and 65 percent of our remittances come from Saudi Arabia and the UAE," he said, adding that the conflict put them all in danger. He said that the present government spoiled relations with China, with which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was continuing.
Asif said that we also want good relations with the United States (US) but what benefit did we gain out of relations with the US. He also criticized Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's statement about Saudi Arabia, saying that how a seasoned politician could make such comments about Saudi Arabia.
Asif said that Pakistan could have improved relations with Iran and Afghanistan but the PTI government did not do so.
"All the foreign policy successes Pakistan achieved during the PML-N government have been ruined," he said, adding that despite the Yemen war issue, we did not allow relations with Saudi Arabia to deteriorate.
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while speaking on the occasion, said that in our tenure, the circular debt rose by Rs462 billion and by the time we left the government, it was Rs1,026 billion.
Currently, it is Rs2,200 billion, meaning that it has increased by Rs1,200 billion in two years, he said. He said that electricity bills for domestic consumers had been increased 30 percent.
He said ministers had explained earlier that power tariffs had been increased to control the circular debt. Abbasi said the power plants owned by the ministers run on diesel and provide costlier electricity. He said the government's incompetence in the energy sector had caused a loss of thousands of billions of rupees.
About increase in gas prices, he said that gas prices have been increased by 14 percent. Despite increase in gas prices both Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) are going in losses, he said, adding that during the PML-N government total tax on petrol was Rs15 and now they had increased it to Rs45.
Former finance minister Miftah Ismail said the PML-N during its tenure borrowed Rs10 trillion loan, while the PTI government during the last two years borrowed Rs12 trillion loan. He said that we left inflation at 3.9 percent but it surged to 12 percent due to incompetence of the PTI government.
Price of everything especially food items has increased, he said, adding that due to anti-agro policies of the present government and withdrawal of subsidies from agriculture inputs, the production of all major crops has declined in the country. He said during the PML-N tenure dollar rate was Rs115 but during the present government it had surged to Rs164.
The PTI government depreciated rupee by 40 percent but did not increase export by a signal penny, he said. Ismail said when the PML-N came into power, growth rate was 2.8 percent and left it at 5.8 percent.
The government is misstating, while saying that debt increase due to devaluing the local currency, he said, adding that they did not ask but the government itself devalue it. He further said that foreign exchange is only 25 percent of the country's debt and 75 percent debt is in local currency.
So devaluation has no impact on it, he said. He further said that the government took hot money at 13 percent interest rate and the PML-N government had rejected $2 billion at eight percent. He said that even in the last two years they had not collected the tax money, which was left by the previous government.
The government figures of tax collection is also not correct as tax refund of Rs100 billion was shown as grants, while Rs70 billion of new tax refunds were held. Ismail further said large scale manufacturing declined by two percent in the first year of the PTI government, while 10 percent in the second year.
"The people below the poverty line have increased from six million to eight million," Ismail said. "Our per capita income has decreased from $1,652 to $1,388."
Ahsan Iqbal said that the PML-N government had converted the CPEC from paper into $29 billion investment. "Today CPEC is not on the ground but it is on Twitter," he said, while criticising the government.
Construction of nine economic zones was supposed be ready by 2020 under the CPEC but the present government did not construct a single economic zone during the last two years. He said that the party that talked about austerity had let current expenditures of the government increase much faster than the rate of inflation but where it had chosen to cut, shamefully, is on the CEPEC projects.
Iqbal said that the PSDP allowed was increased by the PML-N government from Rs360 billion to Rs1,001 billion in the financial year 2018 but the PTI had reduced it to Rs650 billion. Mirpur Muzaffarabad, Mansehra and Gilgit Chitral Chakdara road were approved under CPEC 6TH JCC but no work has started so far by the present government. PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir, and Khawaja Saad Rafique also spoke on the occasion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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