KARACHI – Poverty is rising at a rapid pace in Pakistan which can push millions of people below the poverty line in one year, a business leader said.
The controversial policies backed by the IMF has resulted in widespread poverty which can become a national security threat, said Shahid Rasheed Butt former President ICCI.
He said that poverty is being reduced in all the regional countries through anti-poverty interventions but it is otherwise in Pakistan where everything is being snatched from the masses in the name of national development.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that poverty is making masses to compromise on food, health, and education but nobody seems to be concerned.
He noted that rising poverty is the result of poor governance and slow economic growth as a large number of people in our country has no access to basic facilities.
The business leader informed that rural areas remain much poorer than urban areas and are far more disadvantaged in all respects of service delivery and the present conditions show the decline in poverty has not reduced the urban-rural gap.
He said that as the masses ate getting poor, the nobility is getting richer because many policymakers seem more concerned about their welfare than the poor.
The accumulation of wealth has become faster depriving people of their due share which is resulting in frustration which is not a healthy trend for the society, he said.
Poverty has been one of the biggest problems that Pakistan faces today. It is rightly said that poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere.
