No stability if polls are stolen: Abbasi

KARACHI: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Sunday a country where elections are stolen could never witness stability.

The former PM was addressing a ceremony held here on Sunday to unveil the manifesto document of his newly formed Awam Pakistan Party (APP). He said the political parties forget their own manifestoes, adding their manifestoes resembled each other.

Abbasi told the audience that the failure and weakness of the national economy were the real issues in addition to the problem of independent power producers (IPPs) in the energy sector.

He said the former federal finance minister had suggested an easily doable solution to the government to instantly reduce the electricity prices, which is the immediate withdrawal of all the taxes levied on power bills.

He said the stability of the economy was a prerequisite for controlling the dollar exchange rate. He said the people would never forgive the present rulers. He said the successive governments could not realise the resources available in the country nor could they find solutions to the problems.

The former PM acknowledged that IPPs in the energy sector posed a problem but the real issue was the failure of the economy. He said that rulers had been unchanged in the country as they were the same the previous day and even ten years back.

He recalled that the per litre price of petrol was Rs60 in 2018. He said the national leadership only worked to safeguard its own interests. “This is really unfortunate,” he said.

Abbasi warned the audience that the country could face a serious water crisis if corrective measures were not taken. He said Pakistan’s farming sector would massively suffer due to the water crisis.

Abbasi lamented that every capable person had been trying to leave the country. He informed the audience that the government’s mandate was to serve the people instead of ruling the masses. He said that following the constitution was the only viable solution to the present-day problems in the country. He said that honouring the constitution was the only way forward for the progress of the country.

The former PM lamented that laws were not adopted to resolve issues of the people as the laws were framed to solve the problems of the government. He lamented that the government was not answerable to the people. He said that people were deprived of their basic facilities.

He said the economy was in a shambles because the constitution was violated and elections were stolen.

He reiterated his demand to annul the law governing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He said that nobody in the country had been subjected to accountability in the past 70 years. He said the NAB’s law had no match anywhere in the world.

Abbasi said the government was obligated to provide electricity, water, gas, healthcare facilities, and jobs to people. He suggested that the government revolve around the masses instead of revolving around those in power.

Also speaking on the occasion, former federal finance minister, Miftah Ismail, reiterated his suggestion to the government of withdrawing all taxes on electricity bills of residential consumers to immediately reduce the power prices. He also demanded making public all agreements made with the IPPs.