Nawaz Sharif, chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on Tuesday claimed that his party could resolve all issues related to the public sector enterprises (PSEs) running into losses within six months. He was speaking at a dinner meeting hosted by Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at a local hotel.
He said the government had done nothing to put the public sector corporations on right track, asserting that the problems of these sinking PSEs could be resolved within six months. He said that the taxpayers were reluctant to discharge their tax obligations, as they were of the view that the incumbent government would meet its personal expenditures through this source of revenue. He underlined the need of wining taxpayers' confidence through facilitation, saying that if he came to power, the rates of import duties except special items would be 5 percent while the corporate tax would not exceed 10 percent.
He said that his party had always tried to support the incumbent government, despite its failure to honour commitments. He said the incumbent government had broken all records of corruption.
Nawaz Sharif said he had signed an agreement with President Zardari, wherein he had committed to restore then deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry within 24 hours, but the same was materialised through long-march. "You can not find any example in any part of the world where opposition gave vote of confidence to the sitting government but we have set that example," he added.
"No matter we will be in power or not, our main objective is economic revival of Pakistan," he said. He called for evolving revolutionary policies for economic revival of the country, saying that privatisation of state-owned enterprises should be initiated.
He regretted that the neighbouring India had achieved sustainable growth by implementing Pakistan's economic reforms. However, he said, Pakistan had lagged far behind from India in this regard. He held former president Pervez Musharraf responsible for current messy situation of the country, saying that Musharraf had derailed the peace process with India through Kargil adventure.
He claimed that if Pakistan had not conducted nuclear blats in 1998, India would have imposed one or two wars on Pakistan. Earlier, in his welcome address President FPCCI Senator Haji Ghulam Ali suggested preparing charter of economy for the country, saying that "if consensus could be developed for charter of democracy then why the charter of economy could not be inked for sustainable growth of the country."
Iftikhar Malik, vice chairman South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Chambers of Commerce (SAARC-CC) urged Nawaz Sharif to include a comprehensive economic policy in his party manifesto. "Business community is now well-aware and well-organised, we need injection not lollypops," he maintained. S. M Munir stressed the need of privatisation of government sector enterprises, saying that the private sector is more capable to run public secotr entities, professionally. A large number of businessmen were present on the occasion.
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