The two major opposition parties are predictably dissatisfied with the government’s performance in its first 100 days in office, with both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Peoples Party (PPP) asserting that Prime Minister Imran Khan has come up with a set of new promises to the nation rather than announcing the achievements of his team during the period.
The PML-N is also set to issue a ‘white paper’ on Friday in an attempt to expose the government’s performance.
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was quick to assert that the government had not done anything because it was busy making ‘U-turns’ instead of trying to serve the people.
PML-N leader and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal said the prime minister’s speech did not include any achievement of the government but offered a set of new promises to the nation. He said the prime minister’s remarks lacked substance.He said the speech did not mention any step to increase power generation, ensure economic growth or broaden the tax base. He said the ruling party’s flagship slogan was eradicating corruption but it wound up the Ehtesab Commission in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa soon after coming to power.
He said a lack of governance in the country had already prompted people to start comparing the governments of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and PML-N.
The PML-N leader said her party would apprise the people of the U-turns and failures of the government. Meanwhile the people could continue searching for PTI’s performance online because that’s where most of its promises were delivered, through fancy graphics and lip service, she added.
She said the prime minister should have told the people that the country’s foreign reserves had plunged from $17 billion to $11 billion, the value of rupees had dropped to the lowest level, foreign debt had increased by Rs900 billion, foreign direct investment was down 67 per cent, development budget had been cut by 35 per cent and 400,00 people had lost their jobs.
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s spokesperson Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said the prime minister had no success to offer after the completion of 100 days of his government. He said the period had been spent only in forming more and more committees on various issues.He said the one who had shown the nation the dreams of a new Pakistan had broken the back of middle class people through a tsunami of price hike. The unusual increase in the prices of electricity, gas and petrol had caused economic hardship for the people, he added. Political interference in police and bureaucracy had exposed the claims of bringing about a change and the government had made the begging bowl the main feature of its foreign policy, he said.
The senator said the prime minister should hand over to the National Accountability Bureau his financial supporters who owned property abroad. Prime Minister Imran should have looked at least once at the people sitting in front of him before speaking about accountability, he added.
Another PPP leader and senator Sherry Rehman said that first 100 days could be best described as, “A bonfire of vanities”. She added that the government is yet to escape confrontation politics of the past.
The senator also said the good governance requires building bipartisanship confidence.
She claimed that the nation hoped they would be apprised on the initiatives to be rolled out in the near future, however, only more PTI rhetoric was given by PM Imran.
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