Amnesty schemes to turn Pakistan into hub of money laundering: Sherry Rehman

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan People’s Party in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman said on Wednesday that the government is in a state of chaos and confusion.

“Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's triumphant Long March has resonated with the nation to the extent that even the puppets in Islamabad have taken notice and it has left them a state of chaos and confusion,” she said while commenting on the Long March of PPP lead by its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Rehman said the Long March has been a spectacular display of people’s lack of faith in the PTI party as its government has unleashed catastrophe throughout the whole country in the last three and a half years. “The entire nation has mobilised under the voice of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, as his manifesto has struck a chord with the people exhausted by the skyrocketing inflation, disastrous IMF programmes and rampant corruption,” she said.

Commenting upon the tax amnesty scheme announced by the government with the promulgation of the ordinance, Senator Sherry Rehman said the amnesty scheme is another way for this government to forgo accountability.

“It was Niazi himself, who had previously dubbed the amnesty schemes as a tactic to launder money. Rest assured, the people have not forgotten his statements,” she said. The PPP Parliamentary leader in the Senate said the offer of amnesty schemes will make Pakistan the number one destination for money laundering with a 5pc tax rate, which will only benefit this cruel, corrupt government and it will be the hard-working people of the country who will have to pay the price.

“It is no wonder Pakistan's standing in the Global Corruption Index now ranks 140 out of 180 countries – a slide of 16 positions since this government came into power,” she said adding that it is only a matter of time before this country will be engulfed in the FATF blacklist due to this government's incompetence.

Rehman said Awami March is moving towards Punjab and gaining more and more momentum.” Men, women and children alike, have taken to the streets to voice their own no-trust motion against this government,” she said. To combat this, she said the government had announced price cuts for the POL products while on the other hand, they increased the price of LPG by a whopping Rs27/kg. She said the price of a single cylinder has increased from Rs2,440 to Rs2,758, an increase of a whopping Rs318.74. “Not only does our Charter of Demands cover the essential need to provide gas to the people and the industry, but it also demands that Sindh be granted adequate gas supply as the wellhead of the country, under Article 158 of the Constitution,” she said.

“The Long March will continue its way towards Islamabad and its momentum will continue to grow,” she said. Sherry said unlike the government, our protest will not paralyse the capital for 126 days, nevertheless, the PPP is aware of how to engage in resistance politics.