The poor need flour not fancy metro projects: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri

PAT Chairman Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that the poor who are compelled to commit suicides out of starvation and extreme poverty need bread more than motorways and orange line projects. He said that wheat is available in stores while the poor remain deprived of cheap flour. He said that luxurious projects of the rulers are spreading corruption, poverty and unemployment in the country.

Dr Qadri expressed these views while addressing the representatives of PAT Youth Wing, MSM and Awami Taajir Ittehad via telephone yesterday. He said that those who staged the drama of selling bread for Rs. 2 caused a loss of Rs. 30 billion to the national exchequer and made the food department indebted for Rs. 100 billion. He said that the whole amount went into the pockets of the vested interest and corrupt mafia and now official wheat is being sold dearly in order make up for payment of interest, adding that the poor are bearing the brunt in the form of hike in the prices of flour and baked bread. He asked as to where those have gone who offered to change their names for their failure to sell bread for Rs. 2. He asked the rulers to tell why bread is out of reach of the poor in their rule of development.

The PAT Chairman said that our ten-point agenda was formulated in the light of the problems faced by the poorest of the poor. He said that PAT will ensure delivery of cheap food to the masses in the first hundred days after getting elected and rid the country of curse of foreign loans by eliminating corruption, commission and kickbacks. He said that we would put the national economy back on track by raising the slogan of ‘made in Punjab’ and bringing all those qualified Pakistanis back from abroad who left the country owing to corruption. He said that the rulers claiming to be experts of economy indebted every kid by getting a loan of $7 billion during their rule, adding that if they complete their term, the country would end up being under a debt of $15 billion.

Dr Qadri said that the coffers of banks have been filled through privatization of the state-owned enterprises and commission is being taken during the construction of fancy projects by taking foreign loans at high interest rates. He said that the prices of POL products in international market have touched their all-time low but the people of Pakistan are being kept deprived of the benefit. He demanded a reduction in the prices of POL products by Rs. 10 per liter and price of flour be brought back to Rs. 16 per kg. He said that massive price hike in flour has made it impossible for the poorest of the poor to make their both ends meet. He said that an ill-fed and physically weak new generation is being brought up, which has grave implications for our national productivity.