After the melodrama of no-confidence vote over and the country finally back from the Naya Pakistan to Purana Pakistan, it is high time to focus on our bleeding economy and save Pakistan from becoming another Sri Lanka.
This was said by Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday, commenting on political situation arising after the success of no-confidence motion in the national assembly.
He regretted that the ousted regime of PTI miserably failed to deliver at every front and instead fuelled inflation, price hike, poverty and hunger in Pakistan. He said the era of PTI government would be remembered as the darkest period in the history of Pakistan as it mercilessly ruined economy, increased internal and external loans and played a havoc with the value of the Pakistani rupee by making a historic devaluation.
He said organized corruption through sugar, wheat flour, oil, fertilizer and other mafias broke all previous records of politically-patronised embezzlement in Pakistan and bad governance remained at its peak as so-called “ATM machines” of Imran Khan were given a free hand to loot and plunder the country.
He said hopefully the new government would be formed in a couple of days and the most daunting task before it would be how to salvage the ruined national economy. He said it would be a difficult job to find some monetary space for giving relief to the poverty-striken masses in the wake of IMF-controlled tight fiscal policies coupled with a central bank that has already been vast and overreaching powers by the ousted regime.
He said the new government would need to reconsider the slavish economic policies of the PTI government and start a process of renegotiation with foreign lenders including the World Bank and IMF.
Altaf Shakoor said the CPEC process was practically halted by the ousted PTI government and the new administration would have to work hard to put things back on the right track. He said the fuel and energy crisis has already marred our industry and it needs an urgent attention. He said till we learn to depend on our indigenous resources and avoid poisonous foreign loans the nation and country could not be saved from economic slavery of foreign forces.
He demanded that a Charter of Economy should be introduced and a National Government should be formed to implement it vigorously.
He said the bleeding national economy needs the most urgent attention and the most careful nursing and healing so that the country could be steered clear of the deeping economic crisis and to save it from becoming another Sri Lanka.