Opposition terms PM’s package a joke

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The major opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), have strongly reacted to relief package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the subsidy package announced by the premier ‘as nothing but a joke’ and said that is too little, too late for 200 million people facing historic inflation, poverty and unemployment.

In a reaction to the prime minister’s subsidy package, Bilawal termed it as a joke and said that the PM claims few families will benefit from 30%discount for only 6 months on ghee, flour and pulses.

Bilawal said in 3-year ghee increased 108%, flour 50% & gas 300% and the “30% is too little for 200 million people facing historic inflation, poverty and unemployment. He said The PTI has no knowledge of the economy, no knowledge of politics and foreign affairs. “When I was opposing the budget, Imran Khan had said that the era of economic growth has begun, where that economic growth is”, he questioned.

Parliamentary leader of the PPP in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman, while reacting on the speech of the prime minister, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan should apologise for the economic mess and inflation. "The Blame Minister of Pakistan has given a bizarre speech where he said that all unprecedented inflation, tsunami of oil, gas prices, essentials is because of the past governments and international markets,” she said.

Senator Sherry Rehman said maybe the prime minister has forgotten that PPP faced higher global oil prices over 130 $ per barrel but local petrol was still half of today prices and the Pakistani rupee still stood strong, while exports were the highest ever and wheat imports were no longer needed.

She said inflation in the country cannot be controlled by giving interviews or doing talk shows. “The prime minister has taken notice of the spiraling inflation at least 17 times but not even once has he shared an action plan. A solid economic recovery plan is the need of the hour,” she said.

Sherry Rehman said in the last three years of the PTI government, the PKR has devalued by 43% against the USD, in 2018 it was at 123 and last month it reached 175.50. “When the government can't scapegoat the opposition, they blame international commodity prices or COVID,” she said.

In the meanwhile, Central Information Secretary PPP Parliamentarians Shazia Atta Marri has said in the reaction of speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan that the speech of ‘selected Prime Minister” Imran Khan was merely showing deceptive dreams to the nation. “Imran the Minstry of Foreign Affairs, a formal summary to appoint Masood Khan as Khan had sworn that he would never talk truth but only will talk lies with people,” she said.

Shazia Marri said that Imran Khan has no idea about the per capita income of the US, Germany and Turkey. She said that the poor women are still being benefited by the Benazir Income Support Programme in country while health card is merely a shameful fraud with the innocent people only. “Poor are in the search of cheap flour, rice and ghee in the country,” she said.

Meanwhile, the PMLN rejected the prime minister's relief package and demanded his immediate resignation. "The resignation of the prime minister will be biggest relief for the poor masses already facing unprecedented price hike in the country," the PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, while addressing a press conference here, said. She said the relief package being announced by the prime minister would just eyewash and cosmetic one. She said the prime minister's relief package has come at a time when sugar price is up from Rs110 to Rs130 and flour to Rs85 per kilogram in just a matter of few days.

The PML-N spokesperson went on to say during tenure of the incumbent government, the electricity tariff increased from Rs11 to Rs24 per unit, has from Rs600 to Rs1400, cooking oil from Rs140 to Rs360 while prices of vegetable were up by 200 to 300 percent.

Marriyum said if the government really wanted to give relief then it should bring back electricity tariff to Rs11 per unit and wheat price to Rs35 per kilogram, saying that Imran Khan lacked competence to run affairs of the country.

Meanwhile, reacting to PM Imran Khan's address, leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz Sharif said that instead of announcing relief to the people, Imran Khan sprinkled salt on the wounds of the nation.

In a statement issued here, Hamza Shehbaz further said that Imran Khan's speech was another eyewash for the poor people. He said that the real plight of the country was that Imran Khan’s policies have made 22 crore Pakistanis eligible for subsidies.

“Due to the incompetence of this government, the backbone of the middle class of Pakistan has also been broken,” he said, adding that PTI's past promises of providing 10 million jobs and 5 million houses was a joke with the nation.

He said after being failed on every front, Imran Khan and his team have now started telling stories of global inflation and throwing the rubble of their incompetence on the previous governments. “The prime minister also forgot to compare the per capita income of the people of the countries he mentioned in his address,” he said and questioned the prime minister that whether the prices of Bread (roti), sugar, medicine, LPG, electricity and edibles will be reversed?