Bilawal laughs off PM Imran’s economic progress claims

Again lashing out at Prime Minister Imran Khan over his government’s ‘poor’ economic policies, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Thursday that inflation had made the lives of poor people miserable under the nose of the very government which claimed to have improved the country’s economy, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

In a statement, he accused PM Imran of letting foreign powers and money lending organisations decide the fate of Pakistan’s economy. “The ‘selected’ prime minister has made the future of posterity ‘bleak’ by borrowing loans, one after the other,” he said, and added, “The loans borrowed on tough conditions to run the economy will also create problems for future governments.”

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He regretted that the prime minister had ruined the country’s dignity by going country to country with a begging bowl in his hands. 

“So much so that now the country’s economic decisions are in these money lending countries and organisations’ hands,” he alleged.

Bilawal said only this year the ‘selected’ prime minister had borrowed $10 billion from other countries and foreign banks; 35 percent more than the loans taken in the preceding year.

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“Ever since Imran Khan has become the country’s prime minister, foreign loans have jumped from $95 billion to $116 billion,” PPP chairman said, and expressed the fear that if Imran continued to borrow loans at the present speed, the country might have to pay a heavy price for that in future.

He advised PM Imran to first inquire from the common man what type of agony he was going through in these times of inflation.

New Water Accord

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stressed on the importance of a new agreement based on fair and equitable distribution of irrigation water. He called for a new formula based on justice and equality for the apportionment of water to Sindh.

Addressing a press conference in Badin, he blamed the Centre for incessantly discriminating with Sindh over the distribution of water. He said the incumbent and previous federal governments were doing injustice by depriving the residents of lower riparian of their share of water.

He said that the Water Accord of 1991 was strongly opposed by the PPP at that time, but now this agreement was not being implemented causing injustices again and again to the people of Sindh. He termed the 1991 Water Accord as unviable for the long term. He said, “We should implement the accord in the short and medium-term but our target should be to evolve a new consensus for distribution of water in the country on the basis of equality and justice.”

Bilawal argued that the 1991 Water Accord was framed by the then “selected” government in the centre.

That fake, unjust and illegal accord was imposed on the lower riparian, he said and added that the coastal districts had been suffering sea intrusion entailing loss of fertile land beside shortage of irrigation and drinking water. He said the people were well aware of the water issue in the country and that how the country lost its three rivers to India.

He said the people of Thatta, Sajawal, and Badin were witnesses to this fact. They have no irrigation water for crops and no water even for drinking, he added.

Bilawal further said even if a representative of Sindh spoke in the meeting of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), he was attacked. “When we talk about the rights of Sindh and Balochistan, the federation launches a campaign against us.

He said the PPP government was utilizing all its resources for water conservation through canal lining and taking action against the theft.