Rabbani slams caretaker govt for seeking IMF nod for relief

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, while questioning the caretaker government’s decision to get IMF permission to provide relief to people in electricity bills, said on Wednesday that Pakistan was passing through the worst form of international financial imperialism because for relief to its people, a sovereign country requires the permission of IMF.

“The poor of Pakistan are on the streets, can’t make both ends meet while the elite continue to enjoy free electricity. The cabinet of a sovereign country says it needs IMF permission to save its people from starvation. What a shame,” he said on Wednesday,

Rabbani, while criticizing the caretaker government for seeking permission from the IMF for relief to the people, questioned, “Is this our independence.”

He said the increase in electricity and other tariffs was a consequence of IMF conditionalities. “The East India Company has been replaced by the IMF,” he remarked.

He said the IMF riots that Pakistan is going through are not a new phenomenon. Latin America, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and other countries have also gone through such a situation.