Building obsession: Govt seems inspired by Sher Shah Suri, says MQM

Says constructing highways and neglecting health and education not right approach .

KARACHI: Two days after the unveiling of the Rs4.451 trillion federal budget 2015-16, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has rejected the government’s monetary policy, calling it ‘stereotypical’ and ‘pro-rich.’

“This is the third time in a row that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz has presented the same stereotyped budget that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer,” said the MQM lawmaker Farooq Sattar in a press conference at party headquarters on Sunday.

“The government has planned an additional Rs700 to Rs800 billion tax generation for current fiscal year while it has failed to achieve what it set in the previous two budgets,” he said. “It is the ruling elites’ scheme to hide their shortcoming by putting heavy taxes on commoners,” he added.

The press conference came a day before parliament is due to start debate on the budget. Sattar said his party will oppose it on the floor of the house and will try to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar ‘for one last time’ to convey its reservations.

Addressing the finance minister, he asked as to how the budget will enhance the buying power of a middle class person and will reduce inflation and unemployment. “Can Dar Sahb explain?” He said the salaried people have once again come under the wrath of ‘unjust’ taxes on utilities.

He said Rs184 billion have been allocated only for the construction of highways while neglecting the education and health sectors. Perhaps the rulers want to imitate Sher Shah Suri, an Indian emperor who built the Grand Trunk (GT) Road that connects Chittagong and Kabul through a roadway of 2,500 kilometres, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2015.