PESHAWAR
The 10-point agenda recently announced by the Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan to improve the country’s economy and exports was perceived by the political and economic experts as a political gimmick to conceal his four-year poor performance in centre, Punjab and 10-year long rule in Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
The experts believed that the 10 points agenda of Imran Khan announced by him at Minar e Pakistan Lahore has hardly hit peoples’ attention as the PTI government under his leadership has failed to provide any significant relief to masses besides improving the socioeconomic indicators, exports, investment and exploring new international markets for the skilled Pakistanis.
Ikhtiar Wali Khan, PMLN spokesman said Imran Khan’s agenda was yet another deception as it has nothing new rather than manipulation of words to cover his alleged corrupt practices and poor governance referring to the PTI’s foreign funding and Tosha Khan cases.
He said Imran Khan in his agenda has claimed to streamline the administrative and financial system despite the fact that his party government has itself abolished its own created Ehtesab Commission at Peshawar in order to protect their skins. He said the Billion Trees Afforestation Project (BTAP) has been taken over by NAB Khyber Pakthunkhwa that has exposed the tall anti-corruption claims of the PTI leadership.
Ikhtiar Wali deplored that unfortunately Imran Niazi has remained busy in negative activities instead of concentrating on development projects and improving the governance and financial system in the country, Punjab and Centre where PTI ruled.
He said the challenges of economic and political situations faced by the country today would have been better if Imran Niazi had appointed competent and committed personalities as finance minister, chief ministers in Punjab and Khyber Pakthunkhwa instead of frequently reshuffling cabinet members.
Ikhtiar said if Imran Khan had set his priorities right during his government and implemented those in letter and spirit he would not have given a new 10-point agenda today to again deceive masses.
“Imran 10-point agenda is nothing but an old wine in new bottles,” said Hamaza Khan, PMLN Nowshera President while talking to APP. “Imran has largely talked about earning of dollars through promotion of tourism and mineral resources but failed to tell about the long delay in ground breaking of the four integrated tourism zones (ITZs) projects including Thandyani Abbottabad, Mankayal Swat, Madakhasat Chitral and Ghanol Manshera in Khyber Pakthunkhwa,” he said, adding the slow pace of work on economic zones projects and grant of leases for mineral projects besides wasting of precious mines and mineral resources including marble and gemstones in Khyber Pakthunkhwa spoke volume of the PTI’s poor investment and policies.
Rather to bolster the country’s exports and explore new international markets for the skilled Pakistanis, he said that Pakistan was plunged into heavy loans burden by PTI incompetent rulers and no solid steps were taken for the socio economic empowerment of the overseas Pakistanis.
He said it would have been better if Imran talked about his government’s measures for resolution of overseas Pakistanis’ problems including their visas procedures, nonpayment of wages and delayed salaries, power of attorney, NICOP, POC, machines readable passports besides their working conditions with relevant foreign governments during his four year term.
On the other hand, he said the present coalition government has planned to send around one million skilled Pakistanis to foreign countries this year besides established facilitation desks in all key airports to facilitate overseas Pakistanis. He said that 16 countries including South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Romania, Portugal and Malta have shown keen interest in hiring services of Pakistanis’ manpower and since April last over 600,000 Pakistanis were sent abroad for employment by the present coalition government.
He said allocation of five percent quota for children of overseas Pakistanis reading in top educational institutions of the country and abroad and providing financial support to them in payment of fees through Higher Education Commission would greatly help provide relief to the overseas Pakistanis.
Hamza Khan said that the massive devastations caused by last year’s floods could have been averted had the PTI government constructed dams in its 10 year rule in Khyber Pakthunkhwa. He said many mini micro hydel power stations constructed in northern KP were washed away by the last year moon floods, resultantly huge taxpayers money were wasted due to poor planning of the PTI.
Similarly, he said the ill planning of the PTI government was further exposed after many billion trees afforestration project’s sites have been swept away by last year floods. “PTI had left KP at the verge of bankruptcy as many public sector universities were complaining about the shortage of funds to pay salaries and pensions to its employees,” he said, adding the country would have been bankrupted today had the Imran Khan government continued for a few more weeks.
“I questioned Imran for concealing facts about giving huge tax exemptions to the influential and foreign investors in his last four rule rather than chanting hollow slogans of increasing the country’s tax base at Minar e Pakistan,” he said.
Citing the Pakistan Economy Survey 2021-22 report, the PMLN leader said PTI government has given away a record Rs1.76 trillion in tax exemptions to the affluent and foreign investors, which took total cost of such exemptions in four years to a whopping Rs5.2 trillion, which was equal to 87% of the estimated tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in the outgoing fiscal year.
He said Imran Khan has started the failed Jail Bharo Tahrik to please his enraged supporters after PTI prematurely dissolved KP and Punjab assemblies, adding Imran Zaman Park drama was also flopped after the Punjab police showed maximum restraint despite the provoking attitude of the PTI workers.
The experts said political unity was required to take the country out of existing challenges and great responsibilities rest on the shoulders of PDM, PTI and others political leadership to immediately start a grand political dialogue in order to take the ship of democracy to the safe shores.
