June 04, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7, 1427

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LAHORE, June 3: Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani forewarned the opposition parties on Saturday that the government would move courts against them in case they misquoted the new year’s budget figures in an attempt to mislead the public about the allocations made for various sectors.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, the minister alleged that the PPP and the PML-N in their respective tenures had been fudging figures to paint a rosy picture of the national economy. The “trick”, he claimed, was discovered by various international agencies, as a result of which Pakistan had to pay fines to get new figures authenticated.

The minister apprehended that after the budget the opposition could again use its ‘expertise’ to manipulate statistics to present national economy in negative light.

He said anyone found involved in the dirty business would have to face the music. “We’ll take them to courts or other relevant forums”.

He pointed out that a foreign magazine had praised Pakistan for the economic progress it had made over the past few years. But, he regretted, some opposition leaders wrote letters to the magazine and presented some ‘wrong figures’ to question the conclusions drawn by the writer.

“This only shows that opposition’s state of mind is perverse and negative”.

Durrani said the new budget would be people-friendly and would not provide the opposition with an opportunity to exploit it. The opposition, he said, was no longer a challenge for the government.

He said the real challenge for the government was poverty, which would be stemmed using the available resources. Steps already taken by the government for poverty alleviation had yielded positive results, but much more was required to be done to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line, he said.

Answering a question, the minister said in the upcoming budget the government would try to reduce the rates of all indirect taxes except the general sales tax (GST).

He said the role of the utility stores would be made more effective, and in case hoarders tried to create artificial shortages, the government would flood the market with its own stocks. This way, he said, those planning to earn huge profits through blackmarketing would suffer losses beyond their imagination.

He said the government had devised a policy to keep prices of essential items under control. If the market did not behave, options available with the government would be exercised without delay, the minister said.

The minister said health, education, poverty alleviation and launching of mega projects would be given priority in the new year’s budget.

Durrani said salaried classes would be given relief, but the quantum and nature of relief would be made public through the budget speech.

He said a huge loan approved by the World Bank showed its confidence in Pakistan’s economy. He said interest-free portion of the loan would be obtained, but request for the other part would be made only keeping in sight the national requirements.