Islamabad ‘:
On the first anniversary of the elections of February 8, Saturday (today), the Government led by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) is celebrating a year of “stability and economic recovery”, while the opposition, particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) is observing it as the “Greatest Survey Day”.
On the one hand, the members of the ruling coalition call on February 8 as a “day of progress and development”, saying that the key economic indicators have improved, the country has exceeded the financial uncertainty of last year and is now on its way to sustained growth.
The opposition parties, on the other hand, have declared on February 8 as ‘Black Day’, claiming that the PTI mandate was stolen a year ago, a government ‘not chosen’ manipulating the results and the general public was installed He is losing hope quickly. Due to ongoing repression against people.
Although the Minister of Information, Ataullah Tarar, did not respond to the text message, looking for the Government’s version, the Punjab governor of the Peoples Party of Pakistan (PPP), Salem Haider, caused a controversy by stating that Tarar did not win the Elections against the president of PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
“This is guaranteed that Tara did not win the elections,” he said, speaking with a private media on the eve of the electoral anniversary. He added that he wasn’t sure if Bilawal had won or lost the elections last year, but he surely knew that he had lost it.
The governor did not give words about the rig, saying that the candidates won their constituency in Attock, as well as all Rawalpindi and many in Karachi won through form 47, which prepares with the results obtained from form 45. “All Pakistan He is in form 47, “Haider continued.
To a question if the mandate belonged to the PTI, Haider said it was the choice of Ros, before adding that those who won could say how they managed to win the elections, since he had lost the elections of his constituency. He said that all those who manipulated last year’s elections must be taken to the task.
Meanwhile, PTI’s Secretary of Information, Sheikh Waqas Akram published a video message, saying that the founder of the Imran Khan party and other leaders and workers faced the worst type of oppression since the alleged operation of ‘regime change’, that intensified months before the general elections and still continued in.
On February 8, he continued, the PTI would observe a “black day” and raise his voice against the alleged “mandate theft.” While announcing that the PTI would celebrate a public demonstration on Swabi, Akram said people would celebrate protests in Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan.
In response, the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif, published in X that the PTI was celebrating a demonstration against the rig of the province where he had won, saying that the money of the taxpayers was being spent on the rally of the party in Swabi. He released the glove to the PTI to celebrate demonstrations in Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan.
However, one year after the elections, experts said that Pakistan’s economy demonstrated a continuous improvement in the first half of the 2025 financial year, adding that it was based on the stabilization achieved in fiscal year 2010, when GDP was expanded 2.5% after the contraction of the previous year.
Despite the accusations of rig, experts believed that inflation decreased substantially to 7.2% of 28.8% a year ago, backed by the flexibility of global prices, a stable exchange rate and specific government policies.
Policy reforms, monetary flexibility and fiscal consolidation further strengthened the basis for the sustainable economic impulse, they said, and added that the balance of the current account recorded a surplus of $ 1.21 billion in July-December of the fiscal year 201025 .
Recording entries and strong export performance compensate for the increasing import invoice. In addition, experts said, foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by 20%, driven by investments in energy and oil sectors.
They added that currency reserves were enough to cover more than two months of imports, backed by disbursements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Financial Assistance. They also said that rupee appreciated in 1.2%, an indicative of favorable external developments.
The external sector, the economic experts said, saw a notable improvement in remittance entries together with the resistant export yield, contributing to a substantial improvement in the balance of the current account.
In the first quarter of fiscal year 201025, they said, GDP growth was estimated at 0.9% compared to 2.3% in the same quarter of fiscal year 2024 in the growth of 1.15% in agriculture and a growth of 1 , 43% in the service sectors. In the industrial sector, they continued, the growth remained negative.
However, they said, the contraction decreased to -1.03% of -4.43% last year, indicating a gradual improvement. They said that the industrial sector experienced a 1.7% contraction in fiscal year2024, due to stabilization measures, a narrow monetary policy position, high inflation rates and an unstable exchange rate.
They said that large-scale manufacturing (LSM) of 1.0% in fiscal year 2024, added that in the first quarter of 201-FY2025, the industrial sector hired by 1.03%, showing an improvement compared to comparison A substantial contraction of 4.43% in the same period last year.
This recovery was greatly attributed to the growth of manufacturing, as well as the supply of electricity, gas and water. However, the downward risks persist in mining and quarry, which decreased by 6.49%, and construction, which contracted significantly by 14.91%.
During July of Fy2025, the LSM sector experienced a slight decrease of 1.25%, compared to the 1.9% contraction registered during the same period last year. The remittances were witnesses of an impressive growth of 32.8% to reach $ 17.8 billion during the H1 Fy2025 compared to the same period in the 2014 fiscal year.
This significant increase was fed by multiple factors, including the increase in migration, the stability of the exchange rate and specific government incentives. IED tickets demonstrated a marked improvement of 20% in Jul-Dec Fy2025, reaching $ 1,329 billion, compared to $ 1.11 billion last year.
Although the Government attributes this change to its economic policies, reduced interest rates and greater foreign investment, the opposition remains critical of the electoral process that led to the current administration to power.
The PTI and its allies have dismissed government claims, arguing that the elections were manipulated and that the results do not reflect the will of the people. The party has announced protests and events throughout the country to mark on February 8 as “survey theft”, accusing the ruling coalition of benefiting from an unfair electoral process.
