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Miftah Ismail. PHOTO: PID
KARACHI:
Former Federal Finance Minister and Awaam Pakistan Party (AP) leader Miftah Ismail has criticized the PPP government in Sindh for its alleged inability to protect lives and properties of citizens.
Miftah claimed that the PPP has been in power in Sindh for the last 18 years but could not control the fire that engulfed a huge commercial establishment, Gul Plaza, in the heart of the Sindh capital.
“Yeah [the PPP government] They can’t even control the fires in Karachi. [Sindh’s most developed city]you can imagine the situation inside Sindh,” the politician said at a press conference held under the auspices of an alliance of opposition parties, the 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 achieve change.
He urged authorities to show concern for citizens, warning that hunger and poverty are spreading and that the poor are becoming poorer. Miftah said the government had published two surveys (labor and household) in recent 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 till date, while real incomes have been declining since 2021. The politician who served as the country’s finance minister during the PML-N government in 2022 before becoming dissatisfied with the party said that in 2018, 16% of households They worried about having enough food, while today that figure has increased to 25%.
This means that a quarter of the population does not know where their next meal will come from.
Miftan said that in 2018 every Pakistani consumed more food than today, adding that someone who could eat four eggs in 2018 cannot afford even one egg today.
