ISLAMABAD, June 7: Central Information Secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-N Siddiqul Farooque has said the present military regime has failed to provide any relief to the people despite the fact that President Gen Pervez Musharraf is enjoying unlimited powers.
Speaking at a news conference here on Monday, the PML-N information secretary said the government had been boasting that no previous government could match its achievements, but the facts and figures were presenting a different situation.
Mr Farooque released a fact sheet presenting a comparison between the prices prevailing in 1999, when Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister and the current level of prices.
"It is now for the people to judge what is true and what is false," he added. He said the comparison showed that there had been 200 per cent increase in some important kitchen items and important commodities.
Moreover, he said, education had become more costly with 100 per cent increase in school/college fees and stationery. He said five big universities had raised their fees by 400 per cent.
The PML-N secretary said public transport fares had risen by 40 to 100 per cent. There has been an average rise of 50 per cent in the prices of pulses, spices, rice, detergent, shoes and fabrics.
Telephone charges have risen by 100 per cent due to limit of five minutes on local calls. Value of rupee has declined by 18 per cent during this period, he said.Mr Farooque said this brief review proved that the over all rise in prices had been about 70 per cent, but the people faced further hardships due to declining incomes and rising taxes.
Taken together, cost of living for an ordinary citizen has doubled compared to what it was in 1999. A poor or middle class family of six persons used to spend Rs6,000 on essential needs, while now it required Rs12,000 to maintain same standard. He said the government had raised salaries of its employees by 45 per cent, but practically the benefit of the raise was limited to 15 to 20 per cent.
On the other hand, he said, salaries of the president, judges, army chief, governors and ministers had been increased by 110 to 140 per cent. The expenditure on Prime Minister's House in 1999 was Rs160 million and the present government is spending Rs870 million on the PM House, he said.
"We demand that the forcibly set up unconstitutional government of Gen Pervez Musharraf should give relief to government employees with a real increase of 140 per cent in their salaries, and that benefits of foreign exchange reserves of $12 billion should be immediately transferred to the common people," he said.