ISLAMABAD, July 6: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (N) parliamentary leader in the Senate and former finance minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has questioned Shaukat Aziz's dream of making Pakistan an Asian tiger , asking him to tell the nation what he has given to the people in four years except back-breaking prices, unemployment, poverty, ruin of agriculture and spate of suicides.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he alleged that a person carrying foreign passport who delivered Kahuta pictures abroad and made the rich even richer, should not make tall claims of loving Pakistan and improving the lot of the poor.

Mr Dar said American experts had rightly estimated Pakistan's losses due to Afghan war at 10 billion dollars, but the so- called Pakistan-lover cut the losses down to $1.5 billion and instead of demanding reimbursement of the ten billion, he showed magnanimity to the US while burdening the 140 million Pakistanis with a loss of 8.5 billion dollars.

He said the so-called people-friendly policies of Mr Aziz had already caused 70 to 150 per cent increase in prices of daily-use items, while the number of people deprived of two square meals had gone up by 15 million.

He said according to Nadra out of the 35 million Pakistanis now holding identity cards, 7.8 million were unemployed while independent experts have put the number of unemployed at 15 million.

The PML-N leader said Mr Aziz's decision to heavily increase prices of agricultural inputs led to unbearable loss to the agrarian economy and the farmers. The country used to export wheat due to Nawaz Sharif's policies but was now forced to import one million tons that was likely to increase further, he added.

He said 65 per cent labour force in the country earned its living from agriculture, but Mr Aziz's policies led to their economic woes. Senator Dar said the failure of the industrial policies of Mr Aziz was evident from the fact that only a few new companies joined the stock exchange during this period while hundreds were registered with the stock exchange during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif.

He said the claim of achieving 6 per cent GDP growth was also misleading because one should remember that similar growth rate was recorded in '60s and '80s, but it resulted in heroine and Kalashnikov culture with the rich getting even richer and the poor getting poorer.

He said the economist team led by Mr Aziz deprived the poor of amenities while providing unlimited concessions and facilities to foreign concerns, banks and the feudal. Wealth tax was cut down for the rich but heavy taxes were levied on items used by the poor.

Mr Dar said the claim of growth in industrial output was also misleading because most of the items were luxury goods like air-conditioners, while motorbike and bicycle production recorded very insignificant increase. The import duty for only large cars used by the rich was cut down, he added.