ISLAMABAD: Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal has urged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to avoid indulging in “irresponsible politics” and asked him to play a “positive role in parliament” instead.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Iqbal said that Mr Khan had even “politicised” the floods which had caused “colossal damage” to the economy.

Calling upon the PTI chairman to end what he called the “politics of sit-ins”, the minister remarked: “This is not the time for politics, rather a time for taking the national agenda forward.”

Mr Iqbal said the sit-ins had caused a loss of Rs1,000 billion to the economy.

Due to the devaluation of rupee against dollar, the country’s debt against foreign loans had gone up to Rs2,500bn, for which Mr Khan was responsible, he alleged.

Moreover, the stock market had suffered a loss of Rs350bn and the economy a loss of between Rs200bn and Rs250bn due to the devaluation of the rupee against dollar.

It was because of Mr Khan that the government could not pass on to consumers the benefit of decline in prices of petroleum products in the international market, Mr Iqbal said.

Turning to the PTI chief’s claims that top PML-N leaders did not pay taxes, the minister presented himself for scrutiny. He said he had always paid taxes commensurate with his income.

Showing the FBR’s directory of parliamentarians, the minister said that 11 members of National Assembly belonging to the PTI were not paying income tax. When asked to name such MNAs, he said the names were mentioned in the directory.

About the agreements that were to be signed during the postponed visit of Chinese president, he said the projects concerned largely pertained to the energy sector. Under the power purchasing agreement, any foreign investor could set up power projects in the country. No special power tariff was suggested for China, he explained.

State Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said that of the so-called “35 punctures” only 15 involved constituencies of Punjab. Five of the infamous cases pertained to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three to Fata, five to Sindh and seven to Balochistan.

“How was it possible for the caretaker chief minister of Punjab to rig elections to 15 seats in his province, on top of the 20 that fell outside his jurisdiction?” she asked.

In any case, the PML-N won only 12 of the 35 seats, she added.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2014