ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said the upcoming budget will be dictated by the IMF, and it would serve their interests, instead of those of the Pakistani people, said a press release. “The PPP is
fully prepared and determined to thwart the PTIMF budget in the Parliament,“ he added.
“Passing the IMF-proposed budget would be tantamount to undermining the freedom and integrity of the country, and the PPP could not, in good conscience, allow the “puppet” PTI government to make Pakistan a vassal state.”
In a statement, Bilawal said the “selected” Prime Minister Imran Khan is always fond of proclaiming that Pakistan is on the verge of an economic miracle in the coming year, “but the year comes and goes and we are left stuck further in the quagmire of inflation, debt, and economic decline.”
He questioned how an “anti-people” government could manage to bring about any positive change into the lives of the people, when they served the interests of the IMF.
Levying heavy taxes on the already poverty-stricken masses to fill the exchequer would not lead to real economic growth, he said, adding “and plunging Pakistan further into debt with no plan for true growth would never lift the economy from ruin.”
Bilawal said that for all the tall claims of growth, the common man is still unable to buy food or medicine.
The chairman PPP said that “this talk of growth was tantamount to pouring salt on the wounds of the millions of Pakistanis his government has pushed below the poverty line.”
The “selected” PTI-led federal government now has a history of extorting money from the masses, while it allows its cronies in and out of government to plunder the state.
This “selected” federal government favours the elite with amnesty schemes while it deprives the people of their right to live with dignity, he said adding that every policy this PTI-led federal government has pushed serves the interests of their crony capitalist backers.
“On the other hand, the PPP has always worked to protect the rights of the people, and it has always formulated policies, it believed were in the best interest of the people. The PPP will always fight for the rights of the people at every forum,” the chairman PPP added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021