Rabbani assails govt for overlooking parliament

ISLAMABAD: Senator Mian Raza Rabbani on Tuesday charged the government had committed another U-turn by deciding to approach the IMF for a bailout package, going against its own commitment of debating the option in Parliament prior to any such decision.

“The finance minister had given an undertaking on the floor of the Senate and the National Assembly that if such a decision is taken it will first be debated in Parliament but this was not done. These actions of the government are condemnable,” he alleged in reaction to the government decision to seek an IMF bailout package. The short-sighted economic policies of the government, he contended, had put the working classes and the masses under heavy taxation and a sharp rise in all utility bills and CNG while the exchange rate today has taken the dollar to Rs136 and the UK Pound to Rs170. He pointed out that yesterday the stock exchange came crumbling down.

Rabbani said, “it will be recalled that the finance minister before taking oath had indicated that they will approach the IMF. It is unfortunate that during the visit of the IMF team when preliminary negotiations were taking place, on a query raised in the Senate the government again mislead Parliament that no such decision is in the offing.

“The government has already raised the prices of gas by 140% and CNG which is touching Rs100 higher than petrol for the first time in history. The increase in electricity tariff has been temporarily put on hold. This escalation in prices has created a situation where the backbone of the working class and the middle class has been broken,” he maintained. Rabbani said the IMF team in its report has suggested that there should be a further increase in the prices of oil, gas and petroleum; obviously this will be part of the conditionality attached to the bailout package. Any further increase in utilities will bring the common man to his knees. The IMF team has also suggested privatisation of public utilities this would entail a retrenchment of industrial labour, which is unacceptable.

“The IMF package will lead to an unprecedented price hike and retrenchment of labour. We will not permit the privatisation of Pakistan’s national assets on the dictates of the international financial imperialists,” he said.

Rabbani said, “Not only the labour will be retrenched but trade union activities guarantee as a fundamental right under the Constitution will also be severely curtailed.”