‘Only early elections can tame inflation’

PTI leaders say 1 million more people will become jobless

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday announced that the party workers across the country had been ordered to come out and protest against soaring inflation, saying that it was in Pakistan’s interest to go for early elections.

“We have decided to give the call to all party leaders and workers to stage demonstrations against rising prices due to the country’s current economic situation,” Fawad said while addressing a news conference after a meeting of the PTI core committee.

Fawad was accompanied by Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid.

The PTI leader said, “If the government doesn’t move towards early elections, we think workers should wait for a final call in September.”

Drawing a comparison with the rising number of street crimes in major cities of the country, Fawad claimed that factories were closing and people were becoming jobless, predicting that around one million more people would become unemployed in the next few weeks.

Fawad said that even the release of funds from the International Monetary Fund could not help stabilise the rupee and bullion markets. “The finance minister (Miftah Ismail) and prime minister (Shehbaz Sharif) have no solutions or plan except for moaning in press conferences.”

He said it was in Pakistan’s interest to move towards fresh elections without any chaos, adding that the PTI would not be responsible if the situation deteriorated.

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Fawad said the PTI core committee had expressed regret and grief over the destruction caused during the floods and instructed the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments to draft plans on how to utilise the amount raised in the PTI telethons among flood victims.

Further, AML chief Rashid said elections were the only solution to the country’s problems as the incumbent government had failed and collapsed. He termed the period up to Oct 5 important without giving any further details.

Meanwhile, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said elections would take place on schedule as one-third of the country was submerged.

Addressing a workers convention in Narowal (NA-72), Iqbal said the previous PTI government did nothing for the welfare of the masses during its four years in the government.

He accused the PTI government of ruining institutions and creating numerous challenges for the country due to its worst governance and corrupt practices.

“Despite taking record foreign loans, no development work was carried out by the PTI anywhere in the country.”
He said the current economic situation was a result of PTI's poor policies while the deal signed by them with the IMF was also not fulfilled as per terms.

“The incompetent PTI government gave nothing to the people except hollow slogans,” he added.

He said the incumbent federal government, led by the PML-N, had been taking tough decisions to save the economy. The PML-N was paying a huge political price by taking such unpopular decisions in larger national interest.

Iqbal said the federal government was restoring the confidence of international organisations in Pakistan and “it will bring back economic prosperity”.

The minister said that the recent floods had played havoc in many areas of the country and the flood victims were looking for assistance from their brethren but in such testing times, the PTI was staging political gatherings for personal objectives.