ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said the country faced the biggest-ever price hike in the month of October due to the alleged failed economic policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, former finance minister Dr Miftah Ismail, Senator Musaddiq Malik and PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb questioned the logic behind the government’s decision to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans after getting bailout packages and assurances from Saudi Arabia, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“When you have got money from Saudi Arabia, when you say that good news is about to come from China and when you say that more money is coming from the UAE, then what is the point in going to the IMF for a bailout?” the former finance minister remarked, regretting that the government had not even disclosed conditions attached to the bailout packages.

Question PTI govt talks with IMF after getting aid, assurances from ‘friendly’ countries

In the month of October, Dr Ismail said, the rate of price hike in Pakistan was seven per cent which was worrying.

Lashing out at the government for recent surge in prices of gas and electricity, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had paid Rs147,000 income tax last year, which showed that he was a middle-class person. “Imran Khan should tell the nation as to how he is paying electricity and gas bills [of his residence]? If his friends are paying the bills for petrol and vehicles, then what is the quid pro quo?” he asked.

Dr Ismail alleged that Aleem Khan, Faisal Vawda and Jahangir Tareen were paying money to the PTI chief and he should tell the nation as to what he was paying back to them.

The former finance minister alleged that the PTI-led government had increased the oil prices at a time when its prices in the international market had come down.

The PML-N leader said the country was strong enough to bear with the PTI government which, according to him, had ruined the country within just three months. He called the rulers “incompetent and liars”.

Senator Malik said Finance Minister Asad Umar had recently announced that Pakistan had come out of the financial crisis and become stable. He said if the crisis was over after getting bailout packages, then why the government was not withdrawing its mini-budget in which it had slashed huge amount from the development programmes in various sectors, including health, higher education and water.

Mr Malik, who had served as official spokesman for the prime minister during the previous PML-N government, regretted that the PTI government cut the budget of the housing ministry on the one hand while announcing construction of five million houses on the other. “Either the government should announce that the [financial] crisis is not over yet and we have failed or it should prove [with its actions] that the crisis is over,” he demanded.

Responding to a question, the PML-N senator said the impression that ongoing accountability process was one-sided would change when all others facing corruption charges would also be arrested like Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif. He alleged that the ministers who had failed to deliver started maligning the opposition out of “nervousness”.

Mr Malik said the PTI government had completed its 90 days and the opposition was waiting for the completion of 100 days to see its progress on the much-trumpeted 100-day programme. It seemed this 100-day programme would also be termed a “political statement” as the PTI had done on a number of occasions, he added.

Dr Ismail said the PML-N also wanted the government to bring back the looted money from abroad through courts instead of “media trial” of the opposition.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018