PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Monday that the biggest issue the country was facing today was that of loadshedding, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Referring to the statement made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in which he had said that loadshedding was due to the closure of 20 power plants, he said that in response to that, PTI leader Hammad Azhar had asked him to name those plants. “But there was no reply from the prime minister,” Fawad said, and added, “This is because the government does not have enough money to import fuel for these plants.” 

He said the problem would exacerbate in near future, and he did not think that the imported government had any solution to this. 

On the government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said that in order to appease the money lending organization, the government did not hesitate to impose taxes on masses. “Look at the petrol price, which has jumped from Rs150 per liter to close to Rs250 per liter under the current government. Excessive taxation has broken the back of salaried class,” he said, and added that despite all that, the government had failed to strike a deal with the Fund.

This is because, he added, the IMF had objections to the changes introduced by the present regime to the corruption-related laws. “This is the state of mind of the imported government, which did not take a minute to burden the people with taxes, but when the IMF objected to changes in the anti-corruption laws, it is dilly dallying,” Fawad regretted.   

Reporter: Saud Butt