Gentle reminder

On January 23, Prime Minister Imran Khan conducted a live Q&A session on television to address the queries of citizens. During this session, he complained that half of the revenue collected by his government through taxes is spent on repayments of the loans taken by the previous two governments of the PML-N and the PPP between 2008 and 2018. According to him, this is why not much money is left to spend on education, health and other welfare activities.

This reminded me of the prime minister’s address in June 2019 in which he vowed to nab the “thieves who plunged the country badly in debt.” He had also claimed that he would constitute a high-powered enquiry commission with a “one-point agenda”: how the previous government accumulated such heft debt in 10 years. The enquiry commission, the prime minister said, would have representatives from the Inter-services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The prime minister should share the findings of the above-mentioned commission, and the subsequent actions taken in this matter, with the nation.

Ejaz Ahmad Magoon

London, UK