ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday announced a ‘grand power show’ at Parade Ground Islamabad besides holding public gatherings in all major cities across the country on July 2.
Speaking at a presser at his Bani Gala residence, he said that he had issued directives to all party workers in all major cities to hold the rallies the same day against ‘the imported regime’.
He said that he would address the gathering for Rawalpindi and Islamabad residents at Parade Ground, while the supporters of the party should increasingly participate in the rallies organised in their respective cities, terming it necessary for the future generations.
Commenting on the super tax introduced by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government, he said that it would add to already rising inflation in the country.
He said that the tax had caused several industries to close while many have already retrenched their employees, adding the super tax would hike the corporate tax to 40 per cent, which is at 25 percent in India and Bangladesh at present.
He maintained that the incumbent regime would continue to increase the prices of petroleum products, adding that such steps following the budget would only burden the common man.
PTI’s ‘big show’ against price hike, inflation on 19th
He further commented that the tax was perturbing the salaried class, saying the wise thing to do was to instead broaden the tax net.
Khan criticised the current rulers, saying that they pushed Pakistan to the brink of disaster in the name of amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law.
“They were not ready to improve the national economy nor did they have any plan to control inflation,” he added.
The PTI chairman said that the current rulers are only focused on getting NRO-II just like they had been awarded NRO-I by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
“For the first time in history, a temporary budget was presented in Pakistan. They are consistently increasing the oil prices, which is increasing the inflation rate. They are now bringing another budget and they have economically murdered the common man,” he added.
The petroleum levy is going to be imposed besides increasing the oil prices, he said, adding the rate of per litre petrol would go up to Rs50 in the name of petroleum levy.
“They will put more burden on the common man, whereas, the super tax is also imposed that will hike the inflation rate to 40 per cent,” he added.
The rates of electricity, oil and gas have already been increased, he said, adding the financial burden on industries will be increased due to an increase in manufacturing costs.
“Farmers will bear the brunt of expensive diesel and load-shedding. The salaried segment of the society is already worried by the inflation and now, the agriculture sector is also being destroyed,” he added.
“In the beginning, the current rulers gave tax exemption to those making Rs100,000 per month, which is now shifted to the low-salaried persons who are making Rs50,000 a month. Those persons who are receiving over Rs100,000 salaries will pay double tax,” he added. Khan said that the PTI government would have set the tax collection target of over Rs8,000 billion and achieved it, adding “we wanted to increase the tax net without imposing taxes on the nationals.”
He said that his party government had planned to bring people into the tax net in April, and had planned to use technology for tax collection, adding the PTI government had introduced a track and trace system which curbed sales tax theft in the sugar industry.
He said that Pakistan recorded the highest exports due to the PTI government’s effective policies for giving financial relief to the industries.
“The textile industries in Faisalabad had been facing a shortage of employees during the PTI government after a massive rise in demand and export orders but the factories of Faisalabad are now closing down and unemployment is increasing,” said Khan.
He said that the statistics of the economic survey report stated the achievements of the PTI government, whereas, more jobs were given as compared to the past governments of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Khan said that the present regime brought economic catastrophe to the country due to its incapability and unpreparedness, adding the price of the US dollar was Rs178 during the PTI government which is now Rs210 due to the incompetence of the ruling regime. “We have approached Supreme Court today against the amendments to the NAB law. We respect the judiciary and it will not let anyone do injustice to the Pakistanis. If the amended NAB law is accepted, Pakistan will no more require an enemy,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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