PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) has accused the federal government of pushing millions of people under the poverty line owing to its ‘flawed’ economic policy.

Addressing a gathering in Khazana union council, QWP provincial chief Sikandar Sherpao said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would face crushing defeat in the next general elections.

He said that though PTI had been in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the last eight years, it completely ignored the urban and rural areas.

On the occasion, several PTI workers including Hammad Khan, Waseem Khan, Abdul Wahab, Usman Khan, Fahim Khan and others announced joining QWP, according to a statement.

They reposed confidence in the QWP leadership and vowed to work for strengthening of the party at the grassroots level.

Criticising the government, Sikandar Sherpao said that rulers were responsible for rising inflation and growing joblessness.

He said that government exposed people to a host of problems as it could not deliver despite making tall claims. “The promises were made to deceive the people to reach the corridors of power,” he added.

The QWP leader said that instead of creating job opportunities for the youth and the unemployed people, the rulers were bent upon rendering the government employees jobless.

He said that the prices of daily use commodities including flour, sugar, ghee and cooking oil had gone out of the reach of the poor, but the rules were least bothered to provide relief to them.

Sikandar Sherpao said that economic managers of the PTI government failed to revive the weakening economy despite taking huge loans. He said that Pakistani rupee had weakened against the US dollar while the national debt had soared manifold.

“There are no signs of improvement. The people are fed up with the government,” he said. He added that purchasing power of people had eroded.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2021