Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Wednesday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government over the recent appointments of economic adviser, and heads of State Bank (SBP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Talking to the media outside the Parliament House, he accused the govt of bowing down before the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying the govt has made changes in the economic team without any justification. "All of a sudden SBP governor, FBR chairman and finance minister were changed. Are the decisions being taken from somewhere else?" he asked.
The PPP chairman said the man who was taking salary from the IMF till a day ago, has become the chief of Pakistan's central bank. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has appointed Hafeez Shaikh - who was finance minister from 2010-13 during the PPP government - as the economic adviser without even meeting him.
Bilawal also claimed that no one, including the prime minister, knows the reasons behind the sudden change of the country's economic team. The PPP leader said the provinces are on the verge of bankruptcy because of the incompetence of the federal government.
"How can IMF negotiate with IMF?" he asked raising question over appointment of Dr Reza Baqir, a former IMF economist as governor of the central bank. Admitting that his party too had sought a loan deal from the IMF, he said they never compromised on Pakistan's financial rights. He said the PPP had started a revolutionary programme, Benazir Income Support Programme, that created jobs, and raised salaries and pensions of government employees.
Bilawal said the labour unions are being weakened in all institutions under a conspiracy and homes are being demolished under the so-called anti-encroachment drives but the government continues to remain silent on such grave issues.
"When there will be political instability, economy cannot take off," the PPP chairman said, adding, "In this time of financial crisis, the government has left the poor at their own." The PPP leader demanded the federal tax collection should be given under the control of the Sindh government.
To a question regarding PML-N's decision to change the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Bilawal said the PPP had not been taken into confidence.
"They [PML-N] might not have had a chance," he said. "But on Tuesday last one of their members said in the assembly that the decision was not final."
Bilawal said it had been decided in the Charter of Democracy that the opposition leader would be PAC chairperson so that the accountability process would be transparent and insisted that the practice should be upheld.
He asked the PML-N leadership to take a decision on the change of opposition leader with all due deliberations so that it maintains its principled stand.
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