ISLAMABAD: Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples' Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) and the member of the National Assembly Shazia Atta Marri has said that the statement of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin regarding the reduction in the prices of flour and sugar is based merely on "lies and ridiculousness".

She said, "the finance minister was trying to cover-up the incompetence of the selected Prime Minister Imran Khan and he should not make the fake interpretations on rising prices hike and growing inflation rate in the country by giving the Covid-19 pretext."

She said, in a statement on Tuesday that the PTI government created the crisis of sugar and wheat itself artificially.

She added that the PTI's government exported sugar and wheat on the cheap price and then imported simultaneously.

She said that the high price of sugar and wheat in an agricultural country like Pakistan was the incompetence of the PTI's government.

She questioned from the government that was Covid-19 also responsible for fixing the prices of petrol, gas and electricity in the country and also causing an obstacle in the delay of the procurement of LNG? She asked that what does the high prices of life-saving drugs have to do with the coronavirus.

She said that the PTI-led incompetent government was also blaming the Covid-19 situation for not increasing the salaries and pensions of the government employees.

Shazia Marri said, "Shaukat Tarin has said himself that notice often issued while speaking against National Accountability Bureau (NAB)."

She said that former president Asif Ali Zardari had rightly said that the NAB and the country's economy cannot go together.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021