Rabbani slams govt for promoting cronyism, neglecting poor

ISLAMABAD: Former Chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said the present government is too business-friendly to support multinationals and crony capitalists for making profits while the working classes are languishing and these corporations have failed to pay the basic wages as laid down under the law.

“The Prime Minister in his statement a few days back stated that the top 100 corporations in Pakistan have made a record profit of Rs.950b in the last year while on the other hand, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to a peak of 13% in January, as prices of almost all the commodities and utilities maintained a growing trend,” he said while expressing concern over a 13 per cent increase in CPI.

Rabbani said household and energy rates increased by 15.5%, the transport sector by over 23% while perishable and non-perishable food items increased by 13% to 14%, respectively. “The government, on the dictates of IMF, has agreed to increase prices of petroleum products and electricity tariff. The electricity bills of normal consumers in urban and rural areas have increased to such an extent that even the middle, lower and working classes cannot afford to pay the said bills.”

He said a salaried person cannot make a budget for his family, and citizens are withdrawing their children from schools as they are not in a position to have even a square meal a day.

The former Chairman Senate said the government has failed to take any substantive steps for reducing the prices of commodities and utilities but on the other hand, has provided incentives to big business and crony capitalists.