PPP to thwart govt plan to economically damage common man, says Bilawal

Ag APP

ISLAMABAD: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has assured the nation that the party will be taking all necessary steps for thwarting conspiracy for economically damaging the common man in the upcoming budget and said Prime Imran Khan may be influenced by those who want their pockets filled, but the PPP rejects PTI’s plot to impose taxes worth billions of rupees in the ‘PTIMF’ budget.

“The current inflation rate has caused enough suffering and we will not sit idly and watch Prime Minister Imran Khan present one failed budget after another. Mark my words, his name will go down in country’s history for ‘economic crimes’ and the country will never forgive him,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

Bilawal said the PPP exposed Prime Minister Imran Khan for hatching a plot with his advisers to target the low-income group in the budget 2021. He also pointed out that inflation has already peaked at 20%, according to the SPI index and if the situation worsens, the impoverished will be unable to survive. “By imposing heavy taxes in the budget, the PTI government wants to burden those who are receiving low salaries,” he declared, adding that imagine what Pakistan’s condition will be if the salaried group is tied up in taxes?

Speaking of the COVID-19 healthcare crisis and the downfall of world economies caused by the pandemic, Bilawal pointed out that the world is already suffering and several economies are on the brink of destruction, and we must ensure Pakistan is not one of them. “There will be no greater injustice if our already crippling economy is presented with a budget that does not provide relief to the poverty-stricken public,” he added.

He said the premier is proving his enmity to the masses by giving amnesty schemes to the rich and collecting taxes from the poor. “How can he sit by and watch thousands of his countrymen die of hunger? Our future generations will be ruined since many families can’t afford to educate them,” he protested.

Addressing the prime minister’s claims regarding the nation’s economic growth, Bilawal commented, “Where is this so-called economic growth? We can’t see it in the statistics! But the doubling rate of unemployment is surely evident”.

He further declared, “the puppet prime minister can get appreciation from his ‘fans’ by manipulating the numbers, but the masses will not be fooled by PM’s illusion of economic prosperity”. Perplexed at the conniving plan of the current government, he said before presenting the fourth budget, Imran Khan brought his third finance minister and the fifth trade secretary.

He said the economic team of prime minister, however, was nowhere to be seen. “A few days before the budget, the PTI government changed the finance secretary and then turned the economic catastrophe into a fake economic growth,” he further added.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had nothing to do with the problems being faced by the common folks as his priority was to come into power.

Commenting on Bilawal’s anti-government remarks, the minister lashed out at the PPP for worsening socio-economic conditions of the people living across Sindh. “The PPP Co-chairman should justify his party’s rule in the province amid deteriorating law and order there,” he added.

Farrukh said there was political dishonesty involved in non-implementation of urban and rural quota system for distribution of 40 and 60 per cent resources despite lapse of decades. The densely populated areas in the province, he added, were presenting a sorry picture with piles of garbage and overflowing sewers, while the provincial government seemed to be least interested in resolving these issues.

The people of Karachi were particularly at loss to know why the sewerage lines across the city were not being rehabilitated and the water meant to supply through pipelines was being provided to the tankers mafia for making bucks, he said.

The PPP Co-chairman, he said, should also elucidate as to why the government schools in the city were in dilapidated condition, while roads were broken despite utilization of additional funds worth millions of rupees on their rehabilitation.

Bilawal should explain as to why his government had allowed land and China cutting mafias to encroach the roads, sports grounds and parks of Karachi. Who will provide recreational facilities and healthy environment to the mega city’s youth as all the civic bodies, including municipal, fire brigade, health, education, land and rescue departments were dysfunctional, he added.

The minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government would present a people-friendly budget for next fiscal year. The Federal Board of Revenue had collected record Rs 4,170 billion tax during the ongoing financial year despite limited economic activities due to the Covid-19, he added.