PDM a bunch of politically jobless persons: minister

FAISALABAD: State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said on Saturday said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was a bunch of politically unemployed persons and its politics of long marches, sit-ins and resignations had already died.

Talking to the media after chairing a seminar on Ashra-e-Rehmatullil Aalameen here, the minister said that there was no threat to the government from the opposition as the people would never come out to save the looters and plunderers.

He said that former prime minister was paying the price for his corruption and plunder of the national wealth.

He said that the government was trying its level best to minimize the impact of global inflation on poor people by trimming down duties and other taxes.

he said that although the corona pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy of the entire world while Pakistan was also affected due to rise in prices of various commodities especially oil products, yet, Pakistan’s economy had witnessed growth due to prudent policies of the government.

He said that petroleum prices suddenly jumped from $35 to $85 per barrel and it was impossible for the economy of the third world country to bear the increase. ‘However, we are trying to control the inflation on a sustainable basis and in this connection, long term policies are being implemented to enhance the export with diversification’, he said, adding that the government was also focusing on new and traditional markets so as to give a quantum jump to the exports.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan adopted a smart lockdown policy against COVID-19 which helped in keeping the industrial wheel running and created millions of job opportunities for unemployed youth.

He said the rise in oil prices had affected all developed countries, therefore, the government had to take steps for rationalizing the price gap and some increase was made in the prices of oil products. However, the government reduced the sales tax on petrol in addition to decreasing petroleum levy to save people from inflation crunch to the maximum extent, he added.

He said the price of coal had increased from $50 dollars per tonne to $250 per tonne while the price of edible oil had risen from $500 per tonne to $1,200-1,300 per tonne at international market. At the same time, the charges for container shipping were also increased from $2,000 to $8,000-10,000, he added.

The minister said the World Food Organization (WFO) said that corona pandemic had caused the worst inflation in the world since 1970s, and Bloomberg had also seconded it. “However, despite all these odds, the PTI government tried its level best to provide every possible relief to the masses. In this connection, talks were also underway with the owners of ghee mills to bring down the prices of ghee for which the government was also ready for an appropriate reduction in taxes and levies,” he added.

The State Minister said the government would issue Ehsas cards to 12 million poor families in the form of ration cards from November this and the cardholder would be entitled to get direct subsidy on flour, sugar, pulses and ghee. Similarly, farmers were being provided Kissan cards at a fast pace so that they could increase their food production and meet their agricultural needs by getting direct subsidies, he said and added that from November, health cards would also be issued to every family in Punjab so that cardholder family could get quality up to Rs 1 million annually from the doctor or hospital of their own choice. He said that pro-industry policies of the government had also increased production in addition to creating new job opportunities. “The cotton crop has also increased from 6 million bales to 9 million bales which would be increased further in the coming years.”

About the increase in power tariff, he said the government was forced to increase electricity prices as previous governments had set such a trap for the people where we had to pay electricity price whether we purchase it or not. The ill-conceived policies of previous rulers not only increased circular debt but also ruined the economic stability by looting and plundering national wealth through fake accounts and money laundering, he added.

Responding to another query, he said the PTI government would complete its constitutional tenure..