PTI slams govt for derailing economy, accuses it of data manipulation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram Thursday lambasted the government for allegedly derailing once a rapidly growing economy through its short-sighted, self-serving, and fundamentally flawed approach to governance.

He strongly criticised the finance minister, dismissing him as an imported figure with no real stake in Pakistan’s future. He claimed that the minister lacked both empathy and vision to address the country’s struggling economy.

Speaking to a news conference alongside with PTI Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) here, he said that while the so-called Form-47 government speaks of an economic turnaround, the grim reality tells a different story.

“Families are being forced to sell their land and ancestral jewellery just to afford migration - a heart-breaking reflection of how deeply the public has lost faith in the country’s current direction,” he maintained.

He stated that large-scale industries have been in decline for three consecutive years, with skilled labour continuing to flee the country due to a hostile and unsupportive business environment.

Waqas rejected the projected growth figures for large-scale manufacturing in the upcoming fiscal year, calling them nothing more than fabricated data and wishful propaganda.

The exodus of talent was not just a statistic, he emphasised and noted that it is a national tragedy. “Our brightest minds were giving up on their homeland because the government has failed to provide them with a future here,” he added.

He also strongly criticised the ‘imposed’ government for presenting fabricated and misleading data in the Economic Survey, dismissing it as nothing more than a smokescreen designed to conceal its glaring economic failures.

The reality on the ground paints a much bleaker picture, he contended and explained that over 3 million educated and skilled young Pakistanis have been forced to leave the country in search of better opportunities abroad. “This alarming brain drain, he emphasised, is a direct result of the growing hopelessness, economic mismanagement, and lack of prospects under the current regime,” PTI spokesman said.

He revealed a troubling statistic, as the number of tractors sold - an essential indicator of agricultural health - has plummeted from 38,000 to just 24,000. He insisted that this sharp decline is a clear sign of the agricultural sector’s collapse.

Waqas stressed that while nearly 70pc of Pakistan’s population relies on agriculture for their livelihood, the regime has failed to release any credible unemployment data, further exposing its disconnect from the harsh realities faced by ordinary citizens.

“These oppressive individuals have pushed the country to the brink of economic collapse. The people of Pakistan are losing hope. This regime is not just incompetent - it is utterly callous and disconnected from the suffering of the masses,” he said.

Waqas claimed that this government has lost all credibility and added even segments of the media that once supported them are now turning away. “They have no place left to hide after wrecking a country that was once on the path to progress,” he said.

PTI MNA Rana Atif strongly condemned the government’s economic ‘mismanagement, manipulation of official data, and betrayal of public trust’, challenging the authenticity of the figures presented in the federal budget and economic survey.

On the occasion, MNA Usama Ahmed Mela noted that even countries like Bangladesh, despite enduring a bloody revolution, managed to achieve 4pc economic growth. “Several African nations are also registering higher growth rates than Pakistan,” he said, underscoring the gravity of the situation.

Referring to official data, the PTI MNA pointed out that the State Bank’s own website lists the inflation rate at 10.5pc, contradicting the government’s misleading claim of 4pc. He added that Pakistan has now suffered three consecutive years of negative growth, a sign of sustained economic decline.

“What Ishaq Dar did through figure-fudging is now being repeated by Aurangzeb,” he alleged. MNA Chaudhary Mubeen Arif Jutt, another party lawmaker, questioned how the large-scale manufacturing sector is expected to grow when the government has failed to provide any electricity subsidy in the federal budget.