Bilawal Bhutto terms PM’s package a joke

Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said that the subsidy package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan is “nothing but a joke”.

Earlier today, the premier announced “country’s biggest-ever” subsidy package worth Rs120 billion, providing 30% discount on ghee, flour and pulses to support 130 million people by ebbing away from the impact of inflation.

He said that 20 million families would benefit from the package to be funded jointly by the federal and provincial governments. Under the package, the beneficiaries would avail a 30% discount on the aforementioned three food commodities for the next six months.

“PM package is nothing but a joke. PM claims few families will benefit from 30% discount for only 6 months on Ghee, Flour & lentils,” Bilawal Bhutto wrote on his official Twitter handle following the prime minister’s address to the nation.

He said that in three years, ghee prices increased 108 per cent, flour 50 per cent and gas 300 per cent. “30% is too little, too late for 200 million p[eo]pl[e] facing historic inflation, poverty & unemployment,” he added.

Terming the package as “fraud”, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, taking to Twitter, demanded PM Imran Khan to resign from his post. “Imran Khan has announced a ‘pain package’, not a relief package,” she added.

Marriyum said that the package would prove to be destructive for the masses amid a new wave of inflation in the country.