Karachi:Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor has regretted that in Naya Pakistan the elite class is given a huge relief of Rs208billion, while the poor masses are given nothing.
In a statement issued here Wednesday, he said the same practice of benefiting the elite industrialists and rich people which had b in vogue during the governments of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif is also becoming the hallmark of the new rulers. He asked what is the different between the old Pakistan of Nawaz Sharif and Zardari and the Naya Pakistan of Imran Khan. He said with waiving off a huge amount of Rs208billion the PTI government has blemished its own face and axed its own foot, politically. He said this mammoth waiving off is now becoming the mother of all financial scandals in the history of Pakistan.
Altaf Shakoor said the Prime Minister Imran Khan should clarify his position on this sensitive issue. He said the apologizers and spin masters of the government are misleading citizens by distorting facts in this regard. He said it seems that instead of ending poverty this junta is also bent to end the poor. He demanded that the names of owners and major shareholders of those five fertilizer companies should be made public, who charged and collected tax from the farmers but did not deposit this tax amount in the government kitty. He said this is a plain fraud.
He said giving industrial tycoons a windfall of Rs208billion in the head of gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) is tantamount to a bizarre looting the government kitty. He reminded that the previous governments of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari had also given relief to the rich people including capitalists, industrialists and Waderas at the cost of poor Pakistani masses and this government, who had befooled voters with catchy slogans, is doing just the same. He said agents and representatives of the elite class sitting in assemblies are busy safeguarding the vested interests of their masters and looting the taxpayers’ money with impunity.
Altaf Shakoor reminded that the PTI has come to power due to their slogan of ending corruption and reducing poverty, but now this government itself is facilitating and safeguarding the same corruption mafia. He said the fate of poor people could not be changed with just cosmetic cabinet meetings and photo sessions. He said if Prime Minister Imran Khan is really committed to the poor, he should immediately expel those people from his cabinet who are facilitating the corrupt elite class at the cost of taxpayers’ money.
However, after the recent development after the announcement of the Prime Minister Imran Khan to withdraw the controversial ordinance, PDP Chairman Altaf Shakoor has welcomed it and attributed this success to the huge pressure of Pakistani civil society and media. He hopped that in future also the government would prefer the interests of taxpayers to the wishes and whims of the elite class.