The People's Rights Movement (PRM) has strongly condemned the conferment of Hilal-e-Pakistan award upon the Asian Development Bank (ADB) president and asked the combined opposition to demand its immediate revocation.
According to a statement, the nation-wide political confederation of social movements has also demanded a public inquiry into the decision to confer the award.
President General Pervez Musharraf himself conferred the award to the ADB president last week in recognition of his meritorious services and invaluable support for sustainable economic growth, social development and good governance in Pakistan.
The relationship between the ADB and Pakistani rulers over the past three years has been heavily influenced by geo-political events following 9/11.
The statement alleged that main financiers of the ADB are the USA and Japan, both of whom have supported General Pervez Musharraf's illegal and un-elected rule.
The ADB along with other international financial institutions does not operate along democratic lines with major financiers having disproportionate decision-making powers.
The ADB's interference in sovereign decision-making processes within Pakistan has been proven time and again, it said.
The PRM stressed that the ADB's interventions in Pakistan have further exacerbated income inequality and social deprivation by emphasising a paradigm of neo-liberal growth, favouring large-scale capital investment at the expense of Pakistan's huge working class.
In particular, the ADB and the Musharraf regime have marginalised small and landless farmers by reducing subsidies, increasing the prices of agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and diesel and introducing corporate agriculture.
The ADB has continued to fund obsolete mega water projects that have worsened inter-provincial tensions, it accused.
Meanwhile, the ADB has never attempted to address issues such as the informalisation of the workforce, the highly regressive tax structure or the worsening position of Pakistani industry.
The PRM also condemned the ADB's continuous support for 'military dictatorship'. Primary governance problem of Pakistan is the continuing domination of military in state affairs, and the ADB has been one of the main institutions responsible for consolidating the military's stranglehold over state affairs, it added.
It is for this reason that the Musharraf regime has awarded the ADB president with the Hilal-e-Pakistan award in complete contravention of the feelings of the Pakistani people.
The PRM also called upon opposition parties in the Parliament to demand an immediate revocation of this award.
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