‘Damages caused to economy by PTI govt’: Govt announces formation of inquiry commission

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government on Thursday announced the formation of an inquiry commission to determine the estimated damages caused by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of Imran Khan to the country’s economy and to face action after fixing responsibility on those involved in the alleged “incompetence and mismanagement” that led to the current economic mess.

This was announced by the former prime minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal during a press conference here.

Abbasi said that the decision was taken during a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz in the chair, in which, the premier was given a comprehensive briefing on the work done during the last two months and the current state of the economy as well as the situation posed by the energy crisis in the country, besides the remedial measures to come out of the impact of damages caused to the energy sector and the national economy during the PTI government.

“A decision was taken that a commission would be constituted under the law after the approval of the federal cabinet,” he announced, adding that the commission’s report will be made public so that truth is brought before the people with the view that the people may get to know as to how Imran Khan caused damage to the country’s economy and to determine the estimate of damages.

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He said that the commission will present a report so that the people know as to who is responsible for the rise in electricity tariff, gas prices, the damages caused to the country’s economy, and resultantly, the huge burden that was shifted on the people.

He said that a decision was also taken that the proceedings of the commission will be made public for the media and the people and to be telecasted on the electronic media.

“This is a matter which has direct impacts on the foreign exchange, economic deterioration, increase in circular debt and additional borrowing,” he said, alleging that the way Imran Khan and his former ministers ruined the energy sector and the alleged corruption as well as negligence would be brought before the people.

He said that the report of the commission will be brought before the nation as soon as its proceedings conclude, adding that the findings will not be kept in secrecy.

Speaking on the occasion, Iqbal maintained that the current tough decisions were being taken in the light of the agreement struck by Imran Khan’s government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said that the incumbent coalition government could only have come out of the IMF agreement if it had foreign reserves, “as Imran Khan had led Pakistan into a cul de sac”.

“But we were not in a position to come out of the IMF deal owing to the situations…When we approached the IMF, they conveyed that the fund had no trust in us. We were told that if you can implement the deal [already struck with the PTI government], then the fund is ready to proceed, otherwise, the fund refused to let the agreement continue,” he further maintained. He further alleged that Imran Khan made the country’s institutions lose their credibility before the international organizations.

The minister pointed out that Pakistan is currently facing the worst energy crisis, and the people, as well as the industrial sector, are badly suffering due to the power load shedding. He maintained that they had predicted the current state of the economy in November and December last year during press conferences that Pakistan would for the first time face the worst gas shortages in the summer due to the alleged incompetence of Imran Khan’s previous government.

He said that they had warned during the last winter that Imran Khan’s government did not avail the in-time contracts of the gas which would lead to the worst energy crisis during the summer. “We had forecasted the current situations, as the PTI government’s failure to procure the LNG eight months back and the failure to purchase fuel for electricity generation,” he said, adding that the PTI government left the treasure empty in April 2022 so that there would be no money left to purchase the fuel immediately from the market.

For the first time in Pakistan’s history on April 1, 2022, the Finance Ministry announced that it would make zero release for the fourth quarter, he said, adding it was unprecedented in the country’s history.

“This is the damaged they wanted to cause to the country and its economy about we had been cautioning the people time and again that the prohibited foreign funding was received by PTI and Imran Khan was imposed for the purpose to ruin the country’s economy,” he alleged. He further claimed that if the current coalition did not oust Imran Khan through the no-confidence motion, it was feared that the country would have faced the worst default in four to six months which would have forced the country to agree to the worst conditionalities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022