PTI govt has nothing to do with people, governance: Shehbaz

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said the PTI government had nothing to do with the masses and governance. “There is nothing but pain,” he added.

Shehbaz said no was against transparent accountability but witch-hunting in the name of accountability and pushing the opposition to the wall could not be accepted.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad where he discussed the two-year performance of the PTI government, the PML-N president said millions of people had been rendered jobless even before the coronavirus pandemic due to the poor governance. The NAB-Niazi nexus had frightened the bureaucracy and no one was ready for investment, he noted.

The PTI government had made CPEC a joke, said Shehbaz as he mentioned the damage done to the country’s relations with China.

Nothing was improving despite the unprecedented support the current government had been enjoying, remarked Shehbaz as the PML-N released a whitepaper on the PTI government’s performance.

He said the country was facing loadshedding despite the ample production capacity and availability

Neither Saudi Arabia nor Malaysia is happy 

Speaking on the occasion, Khawaja Asif discussed the foreign policy failures and listed the developments related Kashmir as the biggest blunder. There is nothing except gimmicks, he remarked and added that the PTI unleashed statements against CPEC soon after coming into power.

Khawaja Asif said the government policy meant that neither Saudi Arabia nor Malaysia was happy with Pakistan, adding that millions of people depended upon the Gulf State for their livelihood were in danger.

He also stressed the need for improving relations with Afghanistan and Iran to secure the country’s borders.

He also questioned what dividends Pakistan had enjoyed in relations with the US and said the foreign policy had totally collapsed. No one was ready to back Pakistan due inconsistencies and constant flip flops, said the former foreign minister.

Power generated through diesel instead of cheap LNG

Similarly, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the circular debt had increased by Rs1,200 billion to the current level of Rs2,200 billion in two years against Rs400 billion during the PML-N tenure. 

He also mentioned that the 9,000MW plants LNG and coal installed by the PML-N government would continue providing the cheapest electricity but the PTI had produced 1,000MW of power through diesel. One of the plants was of a federal minister, said Abbasi and added that the power generated by diesel was the most expensive in Asia.

The former prime minister said the present situation was a result of the fact that the government was importing the cheap LNG. Pakistan had already suffered a loss of thousands of billions due to corruption as it wasn’t because of incompetency, he said.

Every Pakistani 25% poor in real terms

Miftah Ismail said the economy during the PML-N was generating jobs but the PTI had increased the national debt by Rs12,000 billion. Inflation was a natural consequence of devaluation and skyrocketing debt, he noted.

The PTI government has been obtaining hot money at the rate of 13 percent interest rate when the PML-N refused an offer for $2 billion for 8 percent by the City Bank, he noted.

Miftah said devaluation had not increased exports and instead pushed the people with fixed income and the farmers into poverty, adding that the government failed miserably to enhance tax collection.

He said a Pakistani was poor by 16 percent in terms of dollar and 25 percent in real terms thanks to the two years of PTI government.