Ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said, "all macro and micro economic indicators give wrong direction." Inflation, debt servicing, poverty, energy crises and corruption are increasing with each passing day and are becoming unmanageable.
The economy of the country is also badly affected due to worsening law and order situation and political confrontation, said Shah Mehmood Qureshi while addressing media personnel in a 'Meet the Press' programme at National Press Club on Wednesday.
He pointed out economic downturn, energy crisis, political instability and poor law and order situation as the main challenges facing the country and urged for national unity, consensus on issues of country integrity and good governance along with clean visionary leadership to resolve these issues. He said that there is an urgent need for result-oriented debate among different political forces to help the country face current national challenges and put the economy back on track.
1) Economic Situation He said that the burden of domestic debt servicing is increasing while the people are already in miserable condition due to price hike. "All economic indicators show that the economy is not on the right path" he added. "The conditionalties of International Monetary Fund (IMF) are adding more burden on a common people. The people are very stress due to withdrawing subsidy and increasing tariff by the government."
2) Energy Crisis He said that energy crisis is severely affecting agriculture and industrial sectors and disrupting economic growth. The crisis has also had adverse effect on daily life of common man. He said that energy crisis could be resolved by utilising Thar coal reserves, constructing small dams and utilising solar energy. We did not explore Thar coal for the last 60 years. He said that Thar coal has the installed capacity of more than 15000 MW that can fulfil all the energy requirement of the country.
About hydropower projects, Qureshi said that various small and big dams could be constructed on the Indus River, which has the capacity to produce 56000 MW. He added that there are many corridors in Sindh and Balochistan to install wind power projects and solar energy panels. For this purpose, there is no need to import, he said.
About food security, he said that there is food inflation particularly prices of pulses, sugar, flour and other commodities have gone up manifold. To overcome the shortage, he said agriculture sector has immense potential. He said that it is need of the hour to meet the per acre production gap of progressive and small farmers. Pakistan can become food surplus country if we remove this gap and moreover we can earn valuable foreign exchange, he said.
3) Law and Order Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the bomb blast and kidnapping for ransom are common and citizens are feeling insecure. He added that terrorism and law and order situation is result of aggression in Afghanistan. In this regard Pakistan has paid heavy price, he said.
4) Political situation He said that pendulum for reconciliation is striking political confrontation and polarisation. He said that opposition parties must cooperate to move forward for the inertest of the country.
5) Pakistan International Interaction He said that a citizen has no confidence on the national passport as was in the past, which is becoming embarrassment for him/her. He said that the incident of Shahbaz Bhatti has damaged the image of Pakistan at international level.
He said that road network is being damaged due to the heavy Nato trucks and containers. He said that the government should estimate the damage and demand compensation from the US. He said that tribal area has been declared reconstruction zone by America. But US did not make any legislation for this purpose. He said that America has committed $1.5 billion in the shape of economic support to Pakistan but only $179 million were received.
He said he had been trying to develop Pakistan's ties with the US on long term partnership basis. "But unfortunately, the Raymond Davis case brought all those efforts to square one," he added. He said that anti-American emotions have increased among the people due to discriminatory treatment with Pakistan. America has made civil nuclear deal with India while it did not have such deal with Pakistan in spite of energy shortage. He said that solid bilateral relations and partnership of Pakistan with America and India are not being established due to trust deficit.
6) Rising Poverty Qureshi said that poverty is increasing with the passage of time, which is a serious problem for the country. He said that due to this youth is disillusioned and frustrated. He said our young population try to go abroad to get economic opportunity in foreign countries. Flight of human capital is serious problem.
7) Culture of Corruption He said that it should be eliminated at lowest level.