ISLAMABAD: Accusing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government of creating difficulties for the masses, Opposition Leader in National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif Monday demanded withdrawal of the recent hike in gas tariff.
“The people have seen the outcome of ‘Naya Pakistan’ where in the first instance the burden of hike in gas prices has been put on the poor masses,” the opposition leader said during a debate on the ‘mini-budget’ presented by the government. “No one will disagree if the government raised the price for the rich but increase in taxes on the poor is an injustice,” he said. “We didn’t expect that Finance Minister Asad Umar will bring such anti-people budget. We coped with sheer adversity under the dynamic leadership of Nawaz Sharif and resolved all the challenges facing the country ranging from menace of terrorism to traumatizing power cuts,” he claimed, adding, “Those who chanted slogans of change, have deluded the public.”
Keeping verbal onslaught up, the PML-N president claimed that PTI had come into power through massive rigging instead of the electoral mandate. “Truth pertaining to electoral results should be made public. We entered the parliament just for the sake of supremacy of parliament, and hope that parliamentary commission will compile its report at the earliest,” he said.
On the diplomatic front, Shehbaz asked why Chinese foreign minister wasn’t given a warm reception upon his arrival in Islamabad. “Why do they have to test our friendship with China?” he asked. He also accused the PTI of inflicting damage on landmark China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by hurling reckless statements. He said he had difficulty believing the assurances given by the information minister and the finance minister that the CPEC will not be affected in any way, since the project was part of the PSDP. “I did not expect that a genius like Asad Umer would slash the PSDP like this,” he said, expressing hope that the government will reverse its decision.
Shehbaz lambasted the PTI over awarding public offices on the basis of nepotism. “Those who laid the foundation of PTI are now missing from the party ranks. Federal government is awarding ministries to stalwarts and friends,” he claimed. “They said we have the best team but today we are seeing imported advisors and close friends of a few everywhere,” he said in an apparent jibe on the appointment of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close aide Zulfi Bukhari as advisor on overseas Pakistanis.
Shehbaz also targeted PTI government’s austerity drive, calling it a way to fool the public. He said the government lied about the prime minister’s conversation with United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Responding to Shehbaz Sharif’s criticism, Finance Minister Asad Umar said that he had repeatedly invited the opposition to put forward their grievances on the assembly floor so that a solution can be reached at with consensus. He urged the opposition to approach the ‘natural platforms’ – the National Assembly and Senate’s finance committees – that were available in order to raise their issues. He, however, criticised ministers of the former government for failing to attend the sessions of finance committees.
Moving on to his budget proposals, Umar defended the increase in gas prices, saying that the poor only have to bear 10 per cent of the price hike as most of the burden has been transferred to the upper class. “However, no one has talked about the reason behind the increase in the prices,” he noted. He said the government had offered subsidies to farmers on both gas and fertilizers. He went on to remind the House that the previous government’s decision to export a large amount of urea had led to a shortage of fertilizers at home and increased the cost of production for farmers. He also regretted that circular debt had reached Rs 1,180 billion over the past year.
About increase in indirect taxation, Umar said that the government had raised taxes on 1,800cc plus cars. Furthermore, he noted that regulatory duties were raised on imported luxury food items like cheese and chips, etc, expensive smart phones “bought by people like you [referring to the speaker] and me, not by the poor people”; and other products that are not going to impact the purchasing power of lower-income groups.
Published in Daily Times, September 25th 2018.