PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Thursday accused the federal government of driving the country into economic turmoil, weakening diplomatic relations, and surrendering to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Defending their own administration’s record on economic growth and foreign policy, they rejected criticism of the proposed Mines and Minerals Bill, terming it constitutional and beneficial for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been under severe criticism from its own party leaders and elected representatives, accusing the chief minister of being under pressure to pass the proposed bill from the assembly.
Adviser on Finance Muzzammil Aslam and PTI central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram had to convene a press conference to defend the government’s position on the proposed legislation that has become quite controversial, apparently because it was mostly criticised by the PTI legislators.
The PTI leaders and their criticism of the bill, in fact, gave courage to other political parties, including the Awami National Party (ANP) to raise their voice against the proposed bill.
Speaking at a press conference at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s House, Sheikh Waqas drew comparisons between the current administration and the former PTI-led government, citing major differences in diplomatic outreach, economic management, and development initiatives.
Sheikh Waqas claimed that former prime minister Imran Khan had secured a $2 billion loan package from Saudi Arabia in 2021, including $1.2 billion in direct support, and had achieved favourable outcomes with the IMF and Chinese leadership. He also highlighted the convening of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Islamabad during PTI’s tenure, calling it a major diplomatic success.
“The present prime minister has made repeated visits to Saudi Arabia, but no concrete project has materialised,” he said, alleging that Shehbaz Sharif had signed four IMF agreements more than any of his predecessors and laid what he termed “economic landmines” for the country.
He questioned why Gulf countries had placed restrictions on Pakistani workers, saying such limitations had not been seen in the past.
Speaking on economic performance, Muzzammil Aslam stated that remittances reached $31 billion in the year following PTI’s ouster, but the GDP growth rate had since declined from 6.5 to 3 per cent.
He said inflation had doubled since 2024, while poverty had risen from 34.2 to 40 percent, and unemployment had grown from 6.2 to 8.5 percent, forcing over 900,000 Pakistanis to seek employment abroad. Muzzammil Aslam pointed to a drastic drop in car sales from 231,000 vehicles in 2022 to just 85,000 last year as a clear indicator of economic hardship. He also said Pakistan was requesting Qatar to cancel its LNG agreement due to mismanagement of domestic gas distribution, warning of an emerging food security crisis linked to water mismanagement.
Aslam noted that during PTI’s three years and seven months in office, Rs18 trillion in loans were taken, while the present government had borrowed Rs22 trillion in three years. He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had maintained a surplus budget of Rs150 billion and spent Rs33 billion under the Sehat Card scheme in 11 months, leaving Rs12 billion in outstanding payments.
The adviser added that electricity prices had surged from Rs25 per unit to Rs65 and said PTI would only support external borrowing if it contributed to production. He announced plans to allocate Rs50 to Rs100 billion toward a dedicated debt repayment fund.
On the Mining and Minerals Bill, he said there was no provision in the proposed legislation that harmed provincial autonomy. “The bill proposes a regulatory authority and an appellate council. If anything illegal is found, it will be removed,” he said, adding that the province would not surrender its constitutional rights to the federation.
He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had over 3,500 operational mining sites, and the new law would enable the development of an additional 1,000 mines.
The adviser said the federal government had been releasing Rs3 billion per month in hydel profits to the province for the past nine months and had paid Rs11 billion out of Rs14 billion owed in oil and gas royalties.