KARACHI: Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor has said that Pakistan needs a deep reform program in all sectors and the present caretaker government and establishment should continue their good work so that the poor masses could also get some relief.
Due to very serious and dedicated efforts of the chief of army staff there is a strong hope now that the national economy would get better in the coming days, and this momentum should be continued and sustained at every cost, said Shakoor here Sunday.
He said these efforts have achieved a lot as the valuation of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar is on the rise, while steps are afoot to check smuggling and hoarding of essential commodities.
He said the previous political governments could have taken these steps but they sadly lacked this level of patriotism, and instead focused on corruption and kickbacks. Instead of serving the national interests, the ‘economic hit men’ of foreign powers sitting in these political parties looted the country with both hands, he alleged. The shameful anti-people agreements with private power plants are an example of this ‘economic hit men’ approach of these elements.
Altaf Shakoor said the caretaker government backed by the establishment should continue the momentum to salvage the economy and check corruption and dishonesty at different levels.
He regretted that oil, wheat flour, fertiliser and sugar mafias are fully backed by all major political parties of Pakistan and a strong and decisive action is needed to nab these politically-backed mafias. He said the national economy should be preferred to appeasing the vested interests of different political leaders.
He said the debt trap should be broken at all costs as without getting relief in foreign loans and their interests that devour 80 percent of our resources nothing could be done for the betterment of the poor people.
He said it is encouraging that the chief of the army staff is personally taking efforts to salvage the sagging economy and his efforts are also bearing fruits.
He said the Pakistani armed forces are not only the defenders of our geographical and ideological boundaries but they must also defend the economic boundaries of the country. They should create such internal mechanisms so that the economic interests of Pakistan are also fully safeguarded on a permanent basis. In this era, safeguarding the economic interests of the nation is as important as defending its geographical boundaries.
He said action should be taken to the economic hit men of foreign countries operating in Pakistan and who have marred our finances and made us economically enslaved. He said our economic sovereignty is badly compromised and we have to seek permission from the lenders like the IMF even for a small relief to our electricity consumers. He asked what kind of independence is it, when we are practically ruled by the modern ‘East India Companies’.
He said the utmost focus should go to the economy and not politics. He said the political parties should also take heeds and cooperate in efforts of the caretaker government to improve the economy.
He demanded to privatise all loss making state owned entities, catch electricity and gas thieves and their patrons, nab tax evaders, hoarders and black marketers and purge our bureaucracy from corrupt elements.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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