LARKANA: Former federal minister for finance Miftah Ismail has said that Pakistan Tehreeki-Insaf is simultaneously busy talking to Pakistan government and lobbying in America, hence if Washington turns up pressure, PTI is most likely to halt negotiations.

Mr Ismail, who is also general secretary of Awam Pakistan Party (APP), said at a press conference at Larkana Press Club and later in his address to a workers` gathering in Lahori locality on Sunday that it was strange Bushra Bibihad also been awarded punishment as she had not held any public office.

He said that law and order in Pakistan Peoples Party-ruled Sindh was constantly deteriorating though the party had beenin power for past 18 years but the province lagged behind Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially in education and health sectors.

He said that 40 per cent of the population was living below poverty line in the country, around 27,000,000 children were out of school and 42 per cent pregnant women were suffering from iron deficiency and giving birth to stunted children.

He claimed that 78 per cent of children were not getting breakfast while 20 to 30 per cent people had no access to free education, health and other fundamental facilities. `We pay 25 per cent tax on all items of daily-use whereas due to rising inflation people are unable to buy even essential commodities indicating that the country`s economy is not improving,` he said.He said that Centre spent Rs18,000 billion and provinces Rs12,000 billion annually but even then gas and electricity was costly in Pakistan in comparison with India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Malaysia, South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia.

He said that rulers had no realisation of peoples` difficulties though they had been ruling since long.

When government failed to deliver then its direction must be changed towards serving people, he said and remarked that elites were enjoying at the cost of the underprivileged class.

He said in response to a question that taxes had touched 49.5 per cent which had dropped to just 15 per cent was during the brief tenure of Shahid Khagan Abbasi when he happened to be his finance minister.He conceded that petrol prices continued to rise during his tenure because of the rise in the fuel rate in international market. A huge amount went to MNAs and a major portion of it would be wasted in corruption, he said.

Currently, every citizen of the country was bearing the burden of Rs125,000 loan and Pakistan paid back the loan to the tune of $25 billion annually.

The PML-N should have conceded defeat in Feb 8 election but instead of adhering to the slogan of `Vote ko izzat do` Nawaz Sharif went after power, he said.

Mr Ismail said: `We are now hearing echoes of corruption from Punjab.

Instead of starting air ambulance service, some 300 Suzuki pickups should have been purchased and converted into ambulances.He said that even after huge expenditures over 18 years of PPP-rule in Sindh, the constituency of its incumbent chief minister remained deprived of basic facilities, while castles were being built in the province.

He said that he was confident America could pull Pakistan out of IMF [trap] but the US could not inflict harm.

He criticised Sindh government for poor law and order conditions and in the same breath blamed the federal government for `zero contribution` towards improvement of law and order in the province.

He said in answer to a query that water distribution should be ensured in accordance with the 1991`s water apportionment accord and water issues should be resolved in the light of constitution andconsultation among stakeholders.

He said that robbing Sindh of its water share would have a serious impact in terms of food security as Pakistan was already facing the issue. It would also hit Sindh`s economy and farmers, he said.

He said that Sindh produced 69 per cent natural gas but the entire province faced gas shortage. It was quite discouraging that Sindh had no motorway, he said and advocated constructing at least three motorways from Karachi to Hyderabad, Karachi to Sukkur and Karachi to Nawabshah.

Mr Ismail was accompanied by local leaders of his party Sardar Anwar Soomro, Nisar Ahmed Chandio, advocate Nazeer Ahmed Soomro, Ashraf Bhatti, advocate Imran Ali and others.