Pakistan People’s Party Punjab President Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo said the reports of Transparency International and PILDAT, Islamabad based, published in the media are testimony to the flawed economic policies of the government because the rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer.
He pointed out that the scorecard of the current government regarding poverty alleviations. He said that it was pathetic, and maintained that the rating of the government fell short of the satisfactory level in other areas, too.
The reports clearly implied that unemployment in the country was dangerously high due to the reckless restructuring and the prioritisation policy of the government. Authorities are acting at the expense of the jobs of the poor employees working there, he maintained.
He expressed his frustration on the state of the rural economy that had been very badly hit by the PML (N) government and said that the farmers were facing economic hardships of appalling proportions. Their fourth consecutive wheat crops have accrued unbearable losses to them, and this can solely be attributed to the anti-farmers policies of this government.
He regretted that the government was meting out a stepmother like treatment to the farmers. He spoke about the way that notices had been issued for farmers to deposit tax on their agricultural produce, in addition to the acreage tax already levied. This tax was analogous to extortion and must be withdrawn. If this is not done then the PPP would join farmers to protest against it until it is withdrawn, he warned.
