PESHAWAR:
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram on Friday slammed the Punjab government under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for its “anti-farmer policies” and mismanagement amid growing despair among the masses.
Speaking alongside adviser to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on finance Muzammil Aslam during a news conference in Peshawar, Akram accused the Punjab government of “mastering the art of deception”, adding that it was misleading the people about the purported economic strides.
He blasted Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for claiming economic recovery under her rule, challenging her to make a comparison between Punjab and K-P. “She says the economy is on the right track, but we challenge them to compare Punjab’s economic situation with K-P’s during PTI’s tenure. Poverty under us was 12%, but under them, it is 13%.”
He further recalled that during PTI’s rule, exports reached $31 billion, whereas by 2024, they had fallen to $26 billion under the PML-N government.
“In 2022, poverty was 35%, but now it has risen to 44%. Their policies have worsened every economic indicator, from rising interest rates to skyrocketing institutional losses, including PIA,” he said.
The PTI spokesperson further accused the PML-N of exploiting public institutions for personal gains. “They haven’t strengthened national institutions. Instead, they’re renaming basic health units, colleges and universities after family members.”
He also claimed that K-P’s Sehat Card covers treatment for 103 diseases, while the PML-N has unnecessarily created separate cards for each illness.
Accusing the Punjab government of “anti-farmer policies,” Akram recalled that when PTI launched the poultry programme, the PML-N had mocked it, “but now they’ve become the laughingstock themselves”.
He also called out the Punjab finance minister for wrongly claiming that the government has eliminated 150,000 job positions, saying that the said positions were already vacant.
“They are deceiving the public under the guise of reducing government burdens.”
Speaking on the occasion, Muzammil Aslam emphasized K-P’s governance as a model for economic stability. “Once, change in Pakistan began in Lahore; now, it begins in Peshawar. When our leader [Imran Khan] talked about reducing debt, they laughed at us. But still, K-P’s debt is only Rs725 billion, while Shehbaz Sharif borrowed an equivalent amount in just a week.”
He accused the government of mishandling essential commodities. “They forcibly reduced flour prices by 36%, which will backfire in the future. They’ve pushed 1.8 million Pakistanis to leave the country due to despair,” Aslam said.
He also dismissed the recent rise in the stock market, saying that the 52,000-point surge was driven by only five companies, two of which exploited the public mercilessly.
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