ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Thursday that Sindh was being ruled by a government that had nothing to do with the welfare of people.

Addressing a press conference along with Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, he said the policies of the Sindh government were badly hurting the people of the province.

Flour and sugar prices were the highest in Sindh as compared to the rest of the country and people were deprived of health cards, he said, adding people were deprived of this facility due to anti-people policies of the PPP.

Flour is being sold at Rs1,100 per 20 kilogrammes in the whole country except Sindh as people of Karachi and Sindh were forced to purchase it at Rs1,460 per bag.

The price of sugar across the country is Rs90 per kg but in Sindh it is being sold between Rs97 and Rs100, he added.

He said Transparency International’s post-Covid-19 survey was encouraging because for the first time, there was no evidence of corruption committed by the political government.

The people of Pakistan have a government after a long time which was not accused of any type of corruption, he said, adding even the opponents of the prime minister in Pakistan believed in his uprightness.

Trust in the political government is being restored today, 89 percent people have expressed confidence on the performance and initiatives of the government after outbreak of Covid-19 which was big achievement, Mr Chaudhry said.

There were very few examples in the world where the economy was developing at 5 per cent per year after the pandemic. Our economic growth figures are also being acknowledged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and there is likelihood that Pakistan will go beyond the 5pc growth rate, he said.

The agricultural sector due to policies of the government earned an additional amount of about Rs400 billion last year, he said, adding farmers earned Rs118 billion through sale of wheat, Rs138 billion through cotton, Rs46 billion through rice, Rs3 billion through maize and Rs96 billion through the sale of sugarcane.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2021