LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has launched “White Paper on Economic and Governance Crisis in Pakistan (2022-2025)” subtitled as `PM Imran Khan vs PDM’, alleging that the “non-mandated” government has severely undermined the country’s economic progress and pushed the public against the wall while facilitating “elite capture”.

The white paper says Pakistan had recorded 5.97 percent GDP growth in FY2022 with moderate 11.3 per cent inflation, while the economic growth collapsed post-2022 to -0.2pc in 2023, with only a mild recovery to 2.5pc in 2024. Inflation surged above 29pc in 2023, easing slightly now. The public debt skyrocketed to Rs70.36 trillion by Aug 2024, reaching 65-75pc of the GDP, the document says.

The white paper was launched by PTI Punjab chief organiser Aliya Hamza Malik, spokesman Shayan Bashir and Lahore leader Imtiaz Sheikh at a news conference at Lahore Press Club on Sunday.

Ms Malik alleged the PDM government presented an anti-people budget and fudged figures. She said the government acknowledged that some 18m people were jobless, claiming that the Imran Khan-led government gave some five million jobs despite the Covid pandemic.

She said the PTI government launched Sehat Card and empowered every family to get medical treatment up to Rs1m on showing their CNICs even at private hospitals. However, she alleged that the incumbent government allocated just Rs81 per head for a year to meet their healthcare needs. She said the PTI government also launched different programmes, including Kamyab Jawan, to directly benefit the masses.

She said the IT sector was growing but the incumbent government imposed 18pc tax on freelancers and went on to allege that 35 IT companies out of total 111 were associated with the Pakistan Army and declared tax free.

She said the government was not imposing taxes on the elite and shifting the burden onto the poor salaried class in the country. The government was planning to collect a revenue of Rs536 billion from taxes. She lamented that almost half (45pc) of the population was earning less than $4 a day, while the government was spending some Rs2.6bn per day to run its affairs.

Ms Malik also alleged the government had “proxy judges” (after 26th constitutional amendment) and a parliament that was not doing any public welfare legislation. “The masses are getting no benefit from the existing democracy, parliament and the judiciary,” she said.

The PTI chief organiser said the federal finance minister had himself acknowledged that the government had failed on the economic front and was getting loans to pay increased salaries of judges, parliamentarians and the National Assembly speaker and his deputy.

“The National Assembly has become a white elephant as its expenditure has increased from Rs6.9bn to Rs16.29bn in two years,” she observed and challenged that this assembly could not show a single piece of legislation for the benefit of the people of Pakistan.

Ms Malik announced that the PTI was ready to launch a public awareness campaign to tell the masses how this “Form-47 government” was looting the masses. She asserted that the PTI had faced the worst kind of fascism and was still standing resolute as an opposition party and ready to face more fascism.

She said this government was committing excesses against the country’s former elected prime minister Imran Khan in jail, his wife being subjected to inhumane actions and so was the case with the incarcerated party leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and workers.

She said that she herself underwent imprisonment, including confinement in a prison van for eight hours in sweltering heat. “This government treated the PTI leaders in jail much below the human level,” she added.

PTI Punjab media head Shayan Bashir said this government had let some 1,600 textile mills shut in Faisalabad, rendering thousands of workers unemployed. Under the PTI government, he said, these mills were running in three shifts and still grappling to meet the orders.

He said the PTI government offered direct subsidies to the small-scale farmers, but the incumbent government was giving subsidies to mill owners, who were parking their money in safe heavens abroad. He said the money earned by the poor people circulates in the economy.

Mr Bashir lamented that the unemployment rate had shot up from 6.3pc to 22pc. He said the household items’ prices skyrocketed, while parliamentarians’ salaries increased by 800pc – a clear statement of elite capture.

“The PTI is ready to come out on roads to protest against elite capture,” he announced.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2025