ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has claimed that the proposed budget would further exacerbate the miseries of the inflation-ridden masses and it would become more difficult for the people to survive.

PTI secretary general Asad Umar said that it was unfortunate that the budget speech was delivered by a person [Miftah Ismail] who, a few months back, said that it was impossible for the nation to buy petrol at Rs137 per litre and now he had increased the price to Rs210 per litre while more increases were being considered.

“He (Miftah) had said that for baseline consumers electricity would be Rs12 per unit but now he is going to further increase the electricity tariff. Today [the] government’s published document showed that prices of basic commodities have increased by 24 per cent in one year. Prices of electricity and Sui gas are going to further increase,” he claimed.

The former planning minister said that the wheel of the economy had come to a grinding halt and inflation would further increase in coming days.

Fawad denounces issuance of warrants against party leaders; Qureshi says ‘massive’ pre-poll rigging underway in Punjab

“Sale of cement has reduced by 16pc which means that construction has stopped. When construction slows down, around 30 other industries suffer and labour class loses jobs. Last year we got over $28 billion in the form of remittances and this year it was expected that $31bn remittances will be received but May’s remittances were fewer than May last year,” he said.

He said that the foreign reserves in June 2018 were $9.7bn but PTI government increased them to over $16bn in three and a half years.

“However in just three months [reserves have] dropped to level of 2018. Time has come to bring a government having mandate of people which would work for the betterment of the nation,” Mr Umar said.

Fawad denounces warrants

Meanwhile PTI’s central senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry lashed out at the government and alleged that it was treading on the path of “fascist Narendra Modi” by issuing non-bailable arrest warrants for several PTI leaders in sheer violation of the apex court’s verdict.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that in the PTI’s political committee meeting, party chairman Imran Khan and the entire leadership expressed grave concern over the antiterrorism court’s issuance of NBWs for 17 PTI leaders. He stated that the filing of cases against PTI leadership was sheer violation of the Supreme Court’s decision, as no such case can be filed against peaceful protesters by the ATC.

Fawad Chaudhry said that a sessions court judge dared to take action against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, however, the Lahore High Court suspended him forthwith.

He said that the police subjected PTI workers to worst torture and teargas shelling, which reminded them of the “fascist Narendra Modi” who was registering false and fabricated cases against political opponents in held Kashmir.

Reacting to Maryam Nawaz’s criticism of retired army officers, Mr Chaudhry claimed that she had ridiculed the sacrifices of the military officers, which was condemnable.

He said that the ‘imported government’ compounded the miseries of the people manifold through storm of inflation and unscheduled and prolonged loadshedding amid the scorching heat.

Fawad Chaudhry said that the ‘imported government’ completely destroyed Pakistan’s foreign policy, as the rulers visited Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey for seeking financial support. However, they faced humiliation and returned empty-handed.

“PTI government established relations on the basis of equality. That was the reason we initiated process to ink deal with Russia to procure cheap fuel. However, conspiracy was hatched and PTI government was ousted when everything was moving in the right direction,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2022