ISLAMABAD – Urging the government to mend its ways, the opposition on Monday warned the treasury benches of an uprising in Pakistan such as those in Tunisia and Egypt, anticipating that Pakistan was fast forwarding to a revolt.
Taking part in the debate on the price hike in the country, Humayoun Saifullah of the PML-Q urged the government to introduce reforms in the existing financial system to check the mounting inflation. Bahadur Khan Sihar said a constitutional amendment should be introduced for a people-friendly pricing mechanism.
“If the increasing poverty and inflation are not arrested timely, the streets of the country can present the view of Cairo,” he added. Sheraz Mehmood said the energy crisis was causing inflation in the country therefore he said, the government should first address the issue of electricity and gas load shedding. MQM’s Abdul Qadir Khanzada asked the government to learn a lesson from the uprising in Tunisia and Egypt.
“When the people lose hope to live, they take to the streets,” he said. He demanded the government form a price commission and set up price-control committees across the country. PML-N MNA Tasneem Saddique claimed that the there was a 100 percent increase in the prices of all commodities.
Challenging the prime minister’s statement in which he had stated that Pakistan should not be compared to Tunisia and Egypt, Marvi Memon said if the government failed to mend its ways, the revolt was round the corner.
“The poverty-ridden masses are just waiting for a call by some credible leader to come to the streets and an uprising here will beat those in Tunisia and Egypt ,” said Zafar Beg Bhittani, an MNA from FATA. He said corruption had polluted the entire government machinery.
Defending his party’s government, the PPP’s Sher Muhammad Baloch said the present day crisis was the outcome of the mistakes committed in the last 63. “No one can bring a Tunisia-like revolution here as the nation is divided into various sects, castes and political parties,” he said.
Speaking on a point of order, Bushra Gohar of the ANP demanded the government take action against political parties and people who stopped women from casting votes in Shangla in by-elections.
Palwasha Behram of the PPP drew the government’s attention on the reported immigration of the Hindu community from Pakistan. “According to news reports, a Hindu MPA of the Sindh Assembly has also migrated and it reflects a sense of insecurity among the minorities of the country,” she said, demanding the government be aware of such reports.
Mentioning certain incidents in which minorities were subjected to kidnap for ransom, looting and plundering with no arrests or recoveries so far, MNA Yousuf Talpur accused police and local authorities for protecting the perpetrators. Talpur called for formation of a parliamentary committee to look into excesses done against minorities.
Citing a terrorist attack on a police party in Peshawar, MNA Sahibzada Fazal Karim said how could anyone feel secure when the law enforcement officials were not safe in the country.
