QUETTA: National Party (NP) president Dr Malik Baloch has said that economic, ad­­m­inistrative, political and foreign policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government have failed and it has remained unsuccessful in giving any relief to the people of the country.

Presiding over a meeting of the party’s central committee here on Wednesday, he said alarming hike in the prices of different essential commodities had badly affected the lives of the masses.

The central committee of the NP expressed concern over 200pc increase in the prices of medicines and observed that people had lost purchasing power due to inflation.

The meeting alleged that the PTI government was protecting the interests of multinational companies and pursuing the agenda of the International Monetary Fund instead of giving relief to the masses. The meeting also criticised the government for increasing general sales tax and continuing withholding tax on bank transactions.

It observed that the country had been placed in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force which had put 18 conditions to ensure financial transparency and if these conditions were not met the country would be placed in the black list.

Dr Baloch said that wrong policies of the government were pushing the country towards a serious financial crisis that could lead to blocking foreign investment in the country.

The NP chief also criticised the Balochistan government and said that law and order situation in Quetta had deteriorated to such an alarming extent that over 80 shops were looted in just one night.

Later talking to journalists, he said that the government should repatriate Afghan refugees as the law and order situation was gradually improving in Afghanistan. He said that the presence of Afghan refugees in the country was badly affecting the lives of the local people.

Referring to the speculations about rollback of the 18th Amendment, Dr Baloch said that his party would oppose such attempts because the amendment was helpful in securing due rights of smaller provinces.

He said that the previous government had won trust of the people following its effective policies on law and order and good governance. “It brought an end to highways crimes and took steps to revamp infrastructure of health and education sectors,” the NP president claimed.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2019