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Miftah Ismail. PHOTO: PID
KARACHI:
Former federal finance minister and Awaam Pakistan (AP) party leader Miftah Ismail has lambasted the PPP’s Sindh government over its alleged failure to protect citizens’ lives and property.
Miftah stated that PPP has been in power in Sindh for the last 18 years but it could not control the fire that engulfed a huge business establishment – Gul Plaza – in the heart of Sindh’s capital.
“If that [the PPP government] can’t even control fires in Karachi [Sindh’s most developed city]one can imagine the situation in the interior of Sindh,” the politician said at a press conference held under the auspices of the Alliance of Opposition Parties – TTAP.
Expressing grief over the tragic incident in which six people died and dozens went missing, he said the tragic fire at Gul Plaza was deeply regrettable. Miftah Ismail said that if a government lacks a genuine mandate, it cannot bring about change.
He urged the authorities to show concern for the public and warned that hunger and poverty are spreading and the poor are getting poorer. Miftah said the government had released two surveys – labor force and household – in the past few weeks which showed an increase in poverty.
He said the poor have become 18% poorer, the average Pakistani has become 12% poorer, and incomes have remained at 2010 levels to date, while real incomes have been declining since 2021. The politician, who served as the country’s finance minister under PML-N rule in 2022 before falling out with the 120 Party, said the 120 Party was unhappy with 8%. worried about getting enough food, whereas today that figure has risen to 25%.
This means that a quarter of the population does not know where their next meal will come from.
Miftan said in 2018, every Pakistani consumed more food than they do today, adding that a person who could eat four eggs in 2018 cannot afford one egg today.
