White paper on 100 days of govt: Record price hike, forex fall: PML-N

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday released a white paper titled “100 Days Promises, 100 Failures A Story of U-turns” on the performance of the PTI government in the last 100 days, claiming that the rulers have not been able to fulfill any promise made with the masses; instead people were experiencing a record price hike.

Addressing a press conference along with Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah and Marriyum Aurengzeb, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said: “First we want the prime minister to give details of spending on advertisements .” He alleged that the PTI government took 100 U-turns on as many promises made with the masses.

“The PTI government shattered investors’ confidence by constantly projecting Pakistan as a corrupt country. It shattered investors’ confidence by influencing the FIA and the NAB,” he said, adding that the government drove off investors by tagging renewable energy projects in Pakistan as corrupt without sharing evidence.

Abbasi advised the prime minister that he should follow the policies of the PML-N government if he wants to resolve problems being faced by the country. He asked the PTI chairman to reveal names behind money laundering. He said half of the federal cabinet would land in jail if the names were disclosed. He said the government should tell which personalities were keeping 11 billion dollars.

He said the opposition would stand with the government if it wanted to take action against money laundering, but first the prime minister should disclose the persons behind the illegal practice.

Negating successes being claimed by the PTI government, Abbasi said during the last three months, the nation witnessed a record price hike, record devaluation of rupee while foreign exchange reserves also came down considerably. He regretted that the prime minister, while telling his government’s performance, did not speak a single word against tax thieves. “Interestingly, the prime minister has found solutions to staggering economy through buffaloes, chickens and eggs,” he said, questioning as to where the pilot projects had gone, which were to be launched to improve economy. Abbasi wanted Imran to tell the nation from where the budget to provide 10 million jobs would be generated and how five million jobs would be created.

Ahsan regretted that Imran was yet to know that he had become prime minister despite a passage of 100 days of his government. He pointed out that Imran was still not aware of rules of business and did not know which jobs were to be performed by the federal government and which by the provinces. “Checking growth of poultry and livestock sectors is the job of provinces, not of the prime minister,” he said, adding that the prime minister had promised to root out corruption in 90 days. He advised the PM to start the campaign from his team which consisted of corrupt elements.

Marriyum said the recent hike in dollar was a proof of the fact that the government had accepted all conditions of the IMF. “Now the government should apologize to the nation for making false claims that it would not succumb to IMF pressure,” she said and asked the PTI government to quit for telling lies to the nation by fraudulently reaching an agreement with the IMF.

The white paper says that contrary to its claims of indiscriminate accountability, the PTI government appointed Zulfi Bukhari, Chauhdry Pervez Elahi, Aleem Khan and others to key post, who are established corruption icons and have been convicted too. Zulfi Bukhari is not coopering with the NAB while Imran said nothing about and gave an NRO to his sister Aleema over billions of illegal assets. It says the PTI government took another U-turn and forgot the Seraiki province promise. “Instead of boosting support, the PTI slashed the South Punjab budget,” the white paper said.

It says that in a massive U-turn, the PTI increased tax on the middle class from 15pc to 25pc whereas the PML-N had decreased tax on the middle class from 30 to 15pc. Going against its 100-day claim of reforming the FBR, the PTI has moved towards making it completely autonomous. The paper also claimed that the PTI imposed Rs 90 billion worth of new indirect taxes. “The government failed miserably over tax reforms. It collected less tax during the trimester.”

The white paper said blue-eyed persons from KP and the last caretaker setup were given key positions instead of following merit while the IG Islamabad was removed on political grounds. “The PTI did not take any concrete steps to implement FATA merger with KP and made the process controversial by forcing cut in the NFC Award of provinces. The PM did not even visit FATA in 100 days and staged a face-saving visit later.”

According to the white paper, the PTI government tainted ties with Pakistan’s strongest ally China, went on an international begging spree, demeaning the national image. “The government also picked fights with US President, unsettling the already fragile ties and drove Indo-Pak relations to new lows while foreign direct investment took a hit.

Regarding the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme, the white paper said there was no policy, no plan, no programme and no provincial consultation on the record.

The white paper showed a comparative analysis of prices of essential commodities with prices in October 2017. It showed that the price of wheat increased by 6.11pc, flour 9.32pc, beef 5.04 pc, mutton 3.50 pc, eggs 20 pc and pulses 20 pc.