Parliamentary Leader in the Upper House Senator Sherry Rehman on Wednesday regretted that despite escalation of terrorism in the month of Ramazan, the opposition parties had not been taken into confidence regarding the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader condemned the blast targeting police outside Data Darbar in Lahore, which resulted in the death of 10 people, and prayed for the victims of the gruesome blast.
Sherry also questioned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s prolonged absence from the Senate, saying it was the senators’ right to ask questions and get a briefing from the premier.
Urging that the Prime Minister should be pressed to attend the Senate, Rehman asked, “Why does the Prime Minister not visit the Senate? He has remained consistently absent from the Senate despite the country facing mammoth challenges like inflation, poverty and terrorism. Being the upper house of the parliament, which ensures that the rights of all provinces are protected, it is our right and also our responsibility to seek answers and get briefed”.
Rehman said, “Evidently, the government has failed to steer the country forward even though it repeatedly assures that everything is fine and rosy. It is failing to grasp that the debt-laden country is sinking into an economic turmoil with each passing day. Bread and pulses have become an unaffordable luxury while parents are unable to send children to school due expensive conveyance costs after the gas and petrol price hikes”.
“Moreover, we hear that the FBR has received $400 million from the World Bank to bring tax reforms to raise tax compliance which can take Pakistan’s revenue potential to 26 percent of GDP but what is happening on ground? Instead of bringing the elites into the tax net, amnesty schemes are being introduced to whiten black money and cater to friends’ lobbies,” she added.