Zardari slams compensation package for textile sector

KARACHI: Asif Ali Zardari, former president of Pakistan and the Chairman of PPPP, has rejected the compensation package announced by the prime minister for the textile sector of the country, terming it as too little and too late.

The former president emphasized that during the PML-N rule, Pakistan has long lost its hard-earned competitiveness, which had previously been achieved through the industry-friendly policies of the PPP.

He recalled that the Pakistan textile exports had peaked during his tenure to 13.4 percent of the national GDP, and have ever since sharply declined to only 7.8 percent of the GDP during 2016.

Asif Zardari reminded that other governments all over the world had been incentivizing exports to take away Pakistan’s share in the global markets, while our own government failed to respond in time.

The former president also severely condemned the government’s decision to withdraw subsidy on fertilizers. He said “it’s an inhuman decision and is a conspiracy against the poor and the under privilege section of our rural population.” He believes that this decision is not only going to severely affect the agriculture sector of the country, it will also drastically increase the poverty level in the rural areas of Pakistan.

He said that the government’s decision that it will only compensate the farmers of the Punjab province is an attempt to destroy the inter-provincial harmony. He said that only to achieve some cheap political mileage, the Nawaz government on the one-hand withdrew the subsidy of Rs400 per bag on fertilizers while secretly compensating farmers of their own political constituency, the Punjab.

Zardari warned that the federal government is playing with fire as such measures are going to create provincial rifts and disharmony. This, he said, creates a sense of deprivation amongst the people of the other three provinces.

Zardari demanded that the decision of withdrawing subsidy should be immediately reversed. He said that the People’s Party is standing with the farmers of the whole country.The news came as a big surprise for most in the agriculture sector as they were not expecting that the government, under foreign pressure, will decide to harm the backbone of the national economy.  Agricultural and financial experts believe that as a result of the withdrawal of this scheme, the share of the agriculture sector in the national economy and its capacity to drive growth and development in the country will diminish very soon.

The former president of Pakistan noted that agriculture experts point out that the upcoming crops of sugarcane and maize are going to be critically affected by this decision.