Ex-rulers conspired to make Pakistan a failed state: PEW

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Wednesday said leaders of a political party conspired with foreign powers to make Pakistan a failed state for which they should be tried for treason.

On the behest of some western countries, the leadership of a political party planned to weaken Pakistan through debt burden to an extent that it had no option but to roll back the nuclear programme to avoid bankruptcy, it said.

The former rulers borrowed 49 percent of the total foreign loans while their share in domestic loans remained at 69 percent of the total, said PEW Chairman Brig (Retd.) Muhammad Aslam Khan.

Moreover, the former government made a record of borrowing over ten billion dollars in one year while a good part of loans was wasted to corruption, he added.

Muhammad Aslam Khan said that Pakistan’s total loans were sixty billion dollars before 2013 which were increased to over 100 billion dollars because all the international institutions continued to forward loans to Pakistan without any question.

Dozens of foreign institutions continued to praise the policies of that government to create a false impression of prosperity and not a single international body questioned reckless borrowing or raise alarm over repayment of loans because the rulers were following their agenda.

That party would have pushed foreign loans to 150 billion dollars if they were elected again which didn’t happen, he said.

The PEW chairman noted that the former government spent billions of dollars to keep dollar artificially cheap which provided real benefit to only one percent of the nobility.

The cheap dollar harmed exports and investment while promoted imports resulting in serious economic crisis. Now the dollar has its normal value which will be troubling for masses for some time but it will discourage imports, encourage exports and investment.

Reduced imports and remittances will help the government raise billions of dollars which is good. He said that IMF is a weapon of superpowers aimed at subjugating nations and helping poor countries to stand on their own feet is contrary to its reason of existence.

Only those nations fall prey to international lenders that have a dangerous habit of spending more than their resources.