KARACHI : The Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, as well as former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain, said on Friday that the vast majority of people are considering themselves insecure due to inflation and electricity bills.
He said that the relationship between the people and the welfare state is constantly weakening, and the youth are eager to seek employment outside the country.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the country’s population is increasing faster than its harmful effects on its economy.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that General Zia-ul-Haq was a controversial ruler. Still, there was no inflation during his time. All the Deputy Commissioners used to be present in vegetable and fruit markets before dawn, and they used to take strict action against profiteering.
Similarly, he said, the magistrates did not allow the price of anything, including milk, curd, bakery, etc., to increase.
After Zia-ul-Haq, the inaction of the administration has crippled the country’s economy and the people. Inflation has come down from 35 per cent to 12 per cent. Still, due to a lack of market control, the situation has reached the point where people are hopeless about their future.
The business leader said that there is no respect for Pakistani passports and Pakistanis in the world, and the system is being run through a begging bowl having huge holes of IPPs.
Mian Zahid Hussain said IPPs have stolen two thousand billion rupees from consumers this year. In comparison, they are ready to steal 2800 billion rupees next year.
He said the biggest shock to the country’s economy in recent years was IPPs and obsolete electricity systems. At the same time, the second major shock is the failure of government institutions, which consume 1200 billion rupees of public tax annually.
Also, tax evasion of 4 thousand billion rupees per year is evident. Due to these factors, the country’s economy and reputation are being destroyed, and the government has reached the threshold of bankruptcy.
Mian Zahid Hussain said Pakistan would immediately go bankrupt if China demanded loans. Even in these circumstances, instead of decreasing, government expenses and national debts are continuously increasing, terrorist activities are going on in the country, and our soldiers are martyring themselves.
The provision of facilities for the business sector needs to be improved, and people are suffering from unemployment. Mian Zahid Hussain said that people should be saved from looting by IPPs.
He said that giving the power to fix oil prices to oil marketing companies is likely to result in IPPs like oil companies. OMCs will be freed from government control after being empowered to set arbitrary oil prices.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that due to the unfair distribution of resources, terrorism and economic inequality, more than 100 million people have gone below the poverty line. There is a possibility that half of the country’s population will go below the poverty line by next year.
In 1985, the dollar was worth 15 rupees, now around 280 rupees due to the losses caused to the country’s economy. The situation is the same with almost all sectors of the economy.
Mian Zahid Hussain said there is an urgent need for the government, the opposition and the elite to hold meaningful talks with the business community on a one-point agenda to fix the country’s economy. Otherwise, there is no chance of improvement in the economy.
