Promise of 300 units free electricity can’t be met: Solangi

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Information and Broadcasting Minister Murtaza Solangi said on Thursday political parties would have to devise a feasible roadmap in their election manifestoes instead of making only tall claims.

However, all mainstream political parties including PMLN, PPP and PTI did not turn up in a seminar organized by the Press Information Department (PIDE) the of Ministry of Information titled “Pakistan Elections 2024: Economic Reform Agenda of Political Parties” here on Thursday. Economists and journalists spoke on the occasion to identify challenges and opportunities for the coming government.

The caretaker Information minister said only a limited period was left and the general elections would be held on February 8 in accordance with the announcement made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He said the ECP possessed authority to announce elections and no other institution could make any changes to it. He said the government would provide administrative and financial support to the ECP for conducting the general elections. He highlighted that the increased population became one of the major problems for providing basic necessities of life. He compared the growth in population in Pakistan to Bangladesh and stated that they had reduced the pace of population growth, but in Pakistan, there was no much success in controlling population. He said political parties must make realistic promises instead of making tall claims and shallow promises which could not be met. The provision of 300 units of electricity cannot be implemented. Parliamentarians should focus on small development schemes by shifting their emphasis to legislative business.

There was no ban on politics, but there should be no politics on the future of the country, Solangi maintained. The minister opined that politics was the concentration of the economy and economic interests. “Our main issues are education, health and gender equality,” he remarked and requested the future rulers and political parties to bring realistic economic reform agenda and not make promises that were difficult to be fulfilled. He said that as per the Constitution, unelected people did not have the authority to decide the future of the country.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Shahera Shahid and Executive Press Information Department Director General Dr Tariq Mehmood Khan also spoke on the occasion.

In his reaction, Pakistan Peoples Party Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi has demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan take notice of the political rhetoric of the caretaker Information minister.

“The opponents of the PPP have problems with the manifesto of the PPP announced by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, but the narrative against the manifesto is being expressed by the caretakers,” he said in a statement while reacting to remarks of caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi. He questioned whether Solangi was a caretaker information minister or information secretary of any political party? He said Bilawal spoke about the poor but the privileged elements were annoyed. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto rebuilt the devastated and defeated country and whenever Benazir Bhutto came to power, she gave employment to the children of the poor and when President Asif Ali Zardari came to power, he started the Benazir Income Support Program. “Today the slogan of every youth is that Bilawal will come and bring employment,” he said.

The PPP Information secretary said Bilawal’s narrative was that when people were prosperous, Pakistan would be prosperous. “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his successors fulfilled what they promised,” he said.