ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan chose a sweltering Sunday afternoon to lash out at the PML-N government for presenting a budget “for the rich, by the rich and of the rich”.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s central secretariat, he said that a fair analysis of the measures which the government had taken last year and what it proposed in the new budget clearly suggested that it was only interested in benefiting a particular group of the rich.

Although his main focus was on the federal budget for the fiscal year 2014-15, the PTI chairman also criticised the Sharif family for running the county as what he called their personal fiefdom.

“Elder brother is prime minister while the younger one is wearing multiple hats, including that of chief ministership of Punjab. The daughter of one brother has been assigned the task to run a project worth Rs100 billion (youth programme) and the son of the second is de facto chief minister of Punjab. Then there are nephews and other relatives holding important portfolios in the government. Is that what we call democracy,” he asked.

Mr Khan alleged that the major focus of the government’s unprecedented massive borrowings was solely on development in Punjab. “With these short-sighted policies, the two brothers are sowing the seeds of hatred in the three smaller provinces for Punjab.”

The difficult task of explaining facts and figures about the federal budget was left to Asad Umar, the party’s financial wizard and member of the National Assembly. He said that on the basis of the yardstick one could determine whether the budget was pro-poor or pro-rich.

“The inflation rate increased by 60 per cent in one year and trade deficit rose from $1.5 billion to $2.1bn. The growth rate stands at about 3pc which the finance minister claimed had crossed the 4pc mark. The figures about foreign investment in the country are disappointing,” he said, adding that it was the worst budget in the country’s recent history.

Mr Umar likened the policies of the PML-N government to that of late General Ayub Khan’s in the 1960s which had only benefited 22 families and led the country to the disastrous events of 1971.

He said there were absolutely no tax reforms in the budget; the rich were spared; an unprecedented 27pc return was guaranteed on investment in the energy sector and no measure was proposed to bring back $200bn stashed by the Pakistanis in Swiss banks.

Mr Umar, a former Engro chief, accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of mentoring a coal-based project near Port Qasim in Karachi in which one of his sons had business interests.

He said additional secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hassan had been given the task of making this project a success for which he regularly made telephone calls, be it provision of 200 acres land of Pakistan Steel Mills or diversion of gas to the site.

“The PTI seeks a direct response from the prime minister whether or not his son is involved in this project. It also asks the media to investigate how this project known as ‘Saifur Rehman’ to the local people gets generous government support,” Mr Umar said.

Imran Khan said: “We have brought a conflict of interest law in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under which people in the government or their relatives cannot do business with the public sector. The PTI will introduce the same law in the National Assembly.”

The PTI chief presented 10 proposals at the press conference which he wanted to be included in the federal budget for 2014-15.

(1) Reduce general sales tax rate from the current 17 to 15pc and then bring it down to 10pc over the next four years.

(2) Reduce electricity tariff by 30pc, put emphasis on the NTDC (National Transmission and Dispatch Company) and Discos (distribution companies) to reduce losses and theft for cost recovery without penalising consumers and industry.

(3) Pensions should be pegged to minimum wage rate – no pensioners should receive pension below minimum wage rate and percentage change in minimum wages must be incorporated in pensions.

(4) Reduce unaccounted for gas (UFG) to 4.5pc from 7pc.

(5) Urgent measures should be taken to bring back $200bn money laundered to Swiss banks.

(6) Three million individuals outside the tax net must be forced to pay Rs100,000 upfront with adjustments after tax returns are filed.

(7) The government must provide detailed provincial and district-wise breakdown of the federal PSDP spending.

(8) Cancel the recently amended coal tariff notification – it is a broad daylight robbery (imported coal tariff raised to 24pc from 17pc and that of Thar to 30.5pc from 20pc).

(9) Make statistics department independent, outsource data collection and analysis to top 20 universities (LUMS, IBA, QAU, etc) so that policies can be constructed on independent, accurate, verifiable and reliable data. Otherwise, the government will continue to operate as a deaf, dumb and blind entity. It is one thing to present lies as statistics but quite another to start believing in your own lies.

(10) Strict austerity measures by the top government functionaries to cut their daily expenditures.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014