Hamza Shehbaz hits out at PTI govt over political victimisation, economic crisis

PML-N leader also slams incumbent government over ‘selective accountability’

LAHORE: While criticising the PTI-led federal government for its recently announced budget for the fiscal year 2020-21, Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz has warned that if the government did not abstain from political victimisation and not seek solutions to the deteriorating economy, the foundations of the country would be shaken.

Addressing the budget session of Punjab Assembly on Thursday, the PML-N leader said that he called for accountability of politicians "but it should be done without discrimination".

"A year has passed but NAB [National Accountability Bureau] could not file a reference against me. I don't even know what case NAB has made against me," he said while terming it a ‘selective accountability’..

Hamza questioned the anti-corruption watchdog's credibility, saying that when would it investigate the BRT project in Peshawar, helicopter case and Malam Jabba scandal.

"NAB is involved in political engineering. You [the government] should understand that NAB and economy cannot go hand in hand," he alleged and said that even the Supreme Court remarked that anti-graft body has destroyed the country.



Agriculture, he said, is an important part of the national economy, however, 40 per cent of the crops have been ruined.

While talking about global pandemic, he said that the government cannot blame Covid-19 for everything. "Coronavirus is only three months old. Even before the pandemic, the inflation rate in the country was 5 per cent. The responsibility of the economic downturn goes to the government."

The PML-N leader said that the country is facing numerous challenges including the coronavirus pandemic which has changed the dynamics of not only Pakistan but the entire world. "However, the government seemed non-serious about the issue right from the start. When the virus started in China, it was said [by the government] that it was a minor flu and it would be cured by a Paracetamol tablet."

Hamza said that almost 6,000 people are infected with the respiratory disease across Pakistan every day but the government's steps are endangering the lives of many others. "The doctors' association kept suggesting lockdown but they were not listened to. Everything they said is coming true today."

He added that not only the general public, members of national and provincial assemblies, paramedics, doctors and police personnel were also dying from the deadly disease.

Criticising Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Karachi, Hamza said that he went to the port city to meet his allies but did not see the PIA plane crash site or meet the families of the victims.

The lawmaker said the government hurls various allegations against the parties in the opposition, most of them lack basis. "We borrowed Rs10,000 billion in five years. However, the PML-N government also produced 11,000 megawatts of electricity from them, built 1,700km of motorways and initiated CPEC."



He said the wheel of the economy began to turn during the tenure of his party and terrorism was eradicated from the country.

While slamming the budget, he said that the sitting government also accumulates debts and has no economic plan and they have no idea of the political economy. "The coming days are very hard on the poor."

He said that the government is claiming that the budget of Punjab has given relief. However, the province's development budget has been curtailed by 17 per cent in the last two years.

The PML-N leader said that a year has passed since the announcement of the creation of South Punjab province, however, the dream of the region's people is not looking any closer to realisation.

"On the contrary, the funds for South Punjab province were reduced by 50  per cent. During our government's tenure, we had allocated 36% of our funds to South Punjab."